


Let's Do This (Again)

by DairyFarmer



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Angst, Canon Universe, F/M, Fix-It, Galra Keith (Voltron), Langst, M/M, Older Lance, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Texan Keith (Voltron), Time Travel, but little does he know, but not for long so don't worry, he's a grandpa and so is hunk, he's trying to get his husband to fall back in love with him, kinda-he's like in his regular body, kinda-things turned out relatively okay for them but lance wants the sailing to go a bit smoother, this may get sad but only for like a little while
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-02
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-09-21 12:52:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 93,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9550013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DairyFarmer/pseuds/DairyFarmer
Summary: Years after settling down and saving the universe Lance somehow ends up back in his younger body-the one before he became a paladin. Now he has to redo everything all over again. But maybe this is a chance to fix the mistakes he made along the way especially some pertaining to a certain mullet haired lover of his.





	1. this isn't my house

**Author's Note:**

> Lance misses his elderly husband is basically what this whole thing can be boiled down to.

Lance knows for a fact that he went to sleep wearing his favorite blue lion pajamas that he made himself, tucked into a bed with red silk-like sheets that was given to him as a wedding present, and cuddling into his husband’s back.

Lance knows this with absolute certainty.

So.

Where.

The.

Fuck.

Is.

He.

The first sign that something was wrong was when there was no pain in his thighs and calves when he stretched his legs upon waking up. Where were his gun calloused hands and scarred lip? Where was the crick in his neck and the numbness from his long dead shoulder? Instead the sight that met him when he opened his unwrinkled eyes was a vaguely familiar grey ceiling. His immediate thought was ‘oh shit i’ve been kidnapped’, subsequently followed by ‘Keith’s going to kill me’. The rising panic was quickly extinguished at the sound of a very familiar, yet very _unfamiliar_ voice greeting him.

“Oh hey you woke up! It’s about time, you usually don’t sleep in this late, are you doing alright?”

Lance slowly turned his head and took in the sight of one Hunk Garrett. One very _young_ Hunk Garrett. The happy boy smiled at him with dimpled cheeks and slightly unkempt bed hair. Looking nothing like the grizzly grandpa with kind eyes that would spend every other day with him gossipping, drinking tea, and reminiscing the “old days”. Lance felt tears begin to sting his eyes as he took in the nostalgic sight. There was only one explanation for this.

“Am I dead?” He whispered, maintaining eye contact with the young-Hunk whose kind smile immediately dropped and furrowed his brows in concern.

“What?” He asked hesitantly before approaching Lance very slowly, as if scared of startling him.

Lance slowly sat up and was amazed at the lack of creaking bones that usually accompanied the action. He looked down at his hands: smooth, unscarred, and supple. The very picture of youth.

“Lance, buddy? Are you feeling okay?” Hunk’s gentle voice reached his ears and a warm palm settled over his forehead as he took in his old and nearly forgotten Garrison dorm room. Posters of attractive actors, star charts, textbooks, cups holding pens and pencils, cleansers, jars of lotion and bottles of skin toner.

Why would his mind conjure this? Because of course this was a dream or a hallucination or _something_.

“You’re not warm.” He heard Hunk murmur. Lance felt himself unconsciously nodding at Hunk’s words and moved to stand up from the uncomfortable mattress-yet another thing he hated about the Garrison.

The floor was cold and Lance shivered at the feeling but there was no pain in his knees, or tenseness in his back. Dream or not this new body was definitely a plus. Lance sighed happily and brushed past a concerned Hunk, ripping open the doors of their shared closet. The Garrison’s tacky orange uniforms (that even he couldn’t make look good) were hanging on the door and inside were several sets of clothes, beautifully folded, his signature green jacket that had been burnt to ash on the planet of Vetu years ago during a civil war was now within arm's reach.

Lance recognized the feeling of sadness rising in him-it had been so long since he had been met with something so _normal._ Which this couldn’t be, Lance celebrated his seventy-seventh birthday aboard the Castleship a few months ago, surrounded by his family and friends. More importantly, Keith was there too. And if Lance was really in the past, then where was Keith? Was Keith by himself? Would Keith wake up to a lifeless corpse beside him? Where was Keith? He wanted Keith. Keith would know what to do. He wanted Keith, he wanted his husban-

“Lance? C’mon buddy talk to me.” He heard Hunk urge behind him. Lance turned and was greeted by a lightly distressed Hunk. Although unease and discomfort raged in his stomach a familiar cocky smile made its way onto his face.

“Sorry bud’ I was just a little disoriented from the sleep I guess. I’m good now, I promise.” He assured despite it not being the whole truth. Hunk sagged in relief before turning to his desk that was covered in half sketches of engines and stabilizers for his Advanced Engineering and Drawing II class.

“You’re lucky it’s Saturday and we don’t have class today. Otherwise we would’ve been in big trouble since you slept in. You even missed breakfast! I tried waking you up but it’s like you were dead or something!” Hunk exclaimed as he pawed through his desk no doubt looking for his timetable to see what their Monday classes were. Lance weakly laughed and began digging around his closet for a towel and a change of clothes. His blue lion pajamas were replaced by an old basketball tee and boxers and from the smell of the shirt _this_ Lance had obviously forgotten to do laundry. He gathered his shower caddy, still sitting in the exact place he remembered keeping it and turned toward the doors with the intent of going to the boys’ communal showers. Being wet always helped him think. But before he moved a thought crossed his mind.

“Hey Hunk what day is it?” He asked. Hunk looked up at him in confusion.

“Ummm the 11th.”

“And the month?”

“June?” Hunk responded slowly. “Are you sure you're okay Lance? I can walk you to the infirmary if you want.” Hunk offered.

“No it’s fine. I just wanted to make sure of something” Lance responded. The day sounded familiar, like it was important somehow. The 11th of June, what was so important about that date? Lance could feel the answer on the tip of his tongue as he made his way down the hallway towards the showers.

The 11th of June, 11th of June, 11th of June, what was the?-.....Oh…..

Now he remembered. The 11th of June preceded the 13th of June a day that Lance, for the longest time, hated because it was the day the paladins left Earth to fight a 10,000 year old war against the ruthless dictator Zarkon (emphasis on the 'dick').

Which meant that Lance had two days to get his shit together before being blasted into space with four future paladins who were (as of now) green as newly grown grass.

If Lance's earlier assumption was right and he really was in the past that meant he had a lot of work to do before Shiro’s arrival Monday night.

Lance finally arrived at the shared bath area, which was surprisingly bare and quickly stripped, hanging his stuff on the provided hooks nearby. He stood under the showerhead for a full minute before realizing he had to manually turn on the water- getting too used to advanced alien tech really messed him up. While standing under the icy stream of water realization finally struck him. In two days he would leave Earth. Leave with the four other paladins. One of which was Keith.

He was going to see Keith again


	2. that's how the cookie crumbles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance thinks back on his life before he was sent to the past and reunites with Keith, Shiro, and Pidge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I lied. This is a little bit more said than I originally intended

It turns out Iverson was just as big of an asshole as Lance remembered him to be. Not that he could remember him well though. It had been almost sixty years; the man couldn't honestly expect Lance to remember every detail from his teenage life when his adult life had been filled with fighting in wars and visiting exotic and foreign planets.

But the actual unfair part was what got him into trouble in the first place! Which was-walking past a commanding officer without saluting. This was after all still a “military school” which Iverson made sure to remind him of while handing him a slip stamped for morning detention.

As if Lance's life wasn't hard enough already.

He’d been greeted by classmates whose names he couldn't recall and faces he could barely remember. He attended classes where the material was lost on him.

How was he supposed to remember any of this!? He hadn't even technically graduated from school (a sore spot that none of the paladins ever mentioned). Hunk was already on the fence about his health and it really didn't help his case when Professor Montgomery asked him to the front of the class to solve a Projectile Motion problem (which he could apparently normally do) but instead he just sat there staring at her in confusion before she switched tactics and asked Pidge instead.

And Pidge.

The reunion with Pidge was….an experience. That is because he caught sight of their small stature walking towards him and Hunk in the hall after class and Lance strait up bolted, startling Hunk and surprising Pidge who had lifted a hand in casual greeting. Hunk was one case, an isolated case that he freaked out about during his shower but seeing Pidge just drove the reality of what was happening home.

The last Lance recalled Pidge was a 5’5 wrinkled prune who complained to their grandnieces and nephews about being...well old. Their shaky hands had been severely damaged by constant typing, coding, and chronic cases of carpal tunnel. Most days they couldn't pick up a cup without some sort of issue.

 _All_ the paladins had been plagued by some issue of youth that carried onto their old age.

His beloved Keith had a problem with high blood pressure (a fact that Lance was convinced was due to the recklessness of his youth.) Shiro suffered with a painful case of osteoarthritis, his years in the Galra gladiator rink and constant unmonitored training doing nothing to help the situation. And Hunk, his best friend since childhood, struggled greatly with anxiety and depression. The death of his wife Shay had hurt all of them but it hit Hunk and his three children the hardest.  It turns out Balmerans didn't have nearly the same lifespan as humans, their lives were like fireworks- short, but great bursts of beauty and Hunk had never truly recovered.

Lance felt grief overwhelm him at the thought of his long time friends. He had fought beside them for years, he knew all their little quirks just as they knew his, but now they were gone. And Lance was alone. His friends, in a manner of speaking, were here and they were still his friend but they weren't _his_ friends.

This Hunk was different, he was still the Hunk that got motion sickness from a mall's escalator and shied away from physical altercations. And this Pidge didn’t interact with him, make jokes, or overshare personal information. They also didn't take too kindly to Lance patting them on the head and messing up their hair whenever they passed by him. But it wasn't Lance's fault! Pidge was just so smol and so young now! They would always be the baby of the paladins even though they were smarter than everyone on the team combined-and the most vocal about their opinion on their aging body. And Lance…..missed them. He missed them all. But he didn't know how he got here and didn't know how to get back.

But did he even want to?

What was he thinking of course he did! He missed his husband, his children, his grandchildren, he missed, Hunk, Pidge, Shiro, Allura, and Coran. He missed all of them and he always would. But this was an opportunity wasn’t it? Lance would be lying if said he didn’t have any regrets- people he wished he could’ve saved (Pidge's family and their devastation at learning what happened to them comes to mind), things he should’ve done (dancing around Keith for years, wasting his youth chasing after people he didn’t love or want before finally sucking up his pride and confessing in his late thirties), words he should’ve said (listening to the muffled screams from a nightmare of Shiro’s, walking away when he heard Allura’s sobs following her father’s AI destruction).

But Lance could fix it now. He had the knowledge, the power. His friends didn’t have to suffer like they did before, they never would because Lance was going to make sure they didn’t.

That made things a little more okay. He was nearing the end of his life before anyway- he could feel it. His vision had especially gotten even worse as of late and Keith had to help him around the house sometimes. There was even one horrifying instance where Lance had looked directly at Keith's smiling face through his horribly blurred eyes and wondered who he was. But now, in this younger body, with no mistakes yet made he could be with Keith again, love Keith again; the way he always should’ve been doing.

Lance's reaction to seeing Pidge had been incredibly impulsive and the whole situation erupted in the form of him skipping the rest of his classes for the day and hiding out in his room, reminiscing the past and the actions he needed to take. He was stressing himself out trying to figure out how to contact all their families and assure them that they’d be alright. The tears his mother shed at the sight of her son alive and well was something he could never forgive himself for.

So far his best plan was to shoot his older sister a text, begging her to tell Hunk’s, Pidge’s, and their parents that they were alright and would return as soon as they could and to not tell the Garrison that he contacted her, and that any story they tried to feed her was bullshit, and also for dad to exercise more and eat better- all that fried food he lies about eating to their mom won’t be good for his health when he’s older.

So yeah, Lance's plan had hit a bit of a rough patch and he still needed to figure out what they’d be facing and when. But in all fairness he had never seen or heard of someone ever being in this situation so his lack of direction was understandable wasn't it? His self-pity was cut off by pounding at his dorm door. Lance reluctantly untangled himself from the blanket cocoon he had put himself in and unlocked the door which was immediately pulled open and he was met with the sight of one the Garrison’s guards standing in the doorway.

“Cadet McClain, your failure to be in attendance to all assigned fighter pilot classes has been noted in addition to your morning detention with Commander Iverson at 0700 tomorrow, you will also serve a second detention during your free time with Professor Harris tomorrow from 1600 to 1800. Failure to attend to any of these assigned detentions will result in a meeting with the review board on your issues with authority. Commander Iverson requests you attend simulation practice at 1800 today or you will be met with harsher consequences. Do you understand Cadet?” The guard’s voice was tired and Lance had the distinct feeling that the man was just some gopher for Iverson to intimidate misbehaving cadets with.  Lance dropped the blanket from his shoulders and dutifully saluted the guard-just like the Garrison’s student manual said to do.

“Understood sir.” He said tensely. The guard gave a nod of acknowledgement before turning around and heading in the direction of the teacher’s lounge. Lance watched him turn a corner and released a sigh of exasperation, he’d been hoping to skip the simulation. Blue and other alien ships he had piloted were far more advanced than anything on Earth. Earth ships required constant vigilance on gas, oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon levels as well as a specific sequential input for simple actions like releasing more fuel or changing the direction of the wings. Lance didn’t remember even half of the inputs and was more used to simply moving a stick or thinking of speeding up rather than actually doing something.  Alien tech really did fuck him up.

But oh well, he couldn’t run away now. Plus no matter how good or bad he did he was certain that Iverson would still humiliate him in front of the class like he always did. Military school was brutal and an emotionally sensitive guy like Lance always had a hard time there, but the place did have the best astro explorer program in the world and it led him directly to Blue so at this point what was a little embarrassment when in the morning he wouldn’t even be here anymore? On that thought Lance backtracked into his and Hunk’s shared dorm, picking up his discarded uniform off the floor.

“Might as well get this over with.” He sighed.

XxX

“Cadet McClain that was just about the worst piloting I have ever seen!” Iverson yelled as Lance, Pidge, and Hunk stood in a line outside the simulator after Lance failed-quite spectacularly and probably even setting a record for fastest mission to go south.

“It’s a wonder you even got into this program! Oh wait!  No it’s not! Because if it hadn’t been for the best pilot in your class flunking out due to a discipline issue you wouldn’t even be here and instead you’d be in the cargo pilot class which I doubt you'd even survive in!”

Ouch. That actually kind of stung. Lance knew that his performance wasn’t the best but it wasn’t _that_ bad. Or at least he thought it wasn’t. Iverson then began ranting about Lance’s technique and how he wasn’t communicating with his team and how this lack of teamwork was exactly what resulted in the death of the men on the Kerberos mission.

“That’s not true!” Pidge spit out, glaring at Iverson with a ferocity that Lance hadn’t seen the first time around. Lance agreed, Shiro didn’t deserve the shit rep he got after Kerberos.  He was one of the greatest pilots who ever lived and he was reduced into a scapegoat whose name was all but taboo, all because the Garrison couldn’t find an explanation for their disappearance. Lance thought Pidge’s rage was justified but he still clapped his hand over their mouth and babbled out an excuse about Pidge not sleeping enough-which was true enough.

Iverson glared at the three of them before grunting out a dismissal. Lance let his shoulders sag in relief and grabbed Hunk and Pidge’s hands, leading them away from the other cadets so they were standing together, apart from the rest of the group.  Lance lightly knocked his fist against Pidge's head who looked up at him, eyes still angry. Lance frowned a bit at them, conveying a look of disapproval that had Pidge looking away from him and to the floor.

Lance’s shoulders sagged further. He really was too old for this.

“I know you’re angry but getting on Iverson’s bad side isn’t going to do anything. He’s just a mega dick and you have to just roll with the punches.” He reasoned. Pidge made no move to look up at him but instinctively Lance knew they understood. He understood Pidge and one day Pidge would understand him too.

“Lance?” He heard Hunk ask. Lance turned to look at his friend who was watching him with furrowed brows. Hunk leaned in further so no one but them could hear their conversation.

“Man are you sure you’re alright? You haven’t been yourself since Saturday.” Hunk said softly. Lance could see the concern shining in his friend’s eyes and mentally slapped himself for letting Hunk think something was wrong.

“I’m fine. Seriously. It’s just personal issues. I’ll get over them eventually I just need some time.” Lance whispered back. A look of understanding crossed Hunk’s face and he pat Lance on his shoulder.

“If you ever need to talk, I’m here.”

“I know.” Lance said, and he meant it. Hunk truly was too good to him.

The three of them stood silently watching, side by side as each group took their turns in the simulator before being dismissed from class for the day. Lance watched with a critical eye as Pidge scurried down the hall to their room. Tonight was the night everything would happen. He couldn’t turn back anymore.

“Hey Hunk what do you think about going out on the town tonight? Just the three of us?”

Hunk made a displeased noise and Lance smirked.

XxX

“This is such a bad idea.” Hunk had been repeating the phrase with greater frequency the closer they got the Pidge’s dorm. Lance let out a light chuckle as they both ducked into an empty stairwell and waited for the guard to pass by.  A rush of exhilaration raced through him as he maneuvered both of them through the patrolled hallways of the Garrison. It was nothing compared to sneaking on and off a Galra battleship undetected but still a thrill is a thrill.

Lance grinned as he led Hunk to a recycling bin and motioned for him to get in, he immediately shook his head and whined when Lance began pushing him into the bin before getting into the trash bin directly next to it. Lance waited to hear the familiar sound of footsteps, counting the tics as they passed in front of him and Hunk. When the sound finally faded Lance immediately jumped out of his hiding place and moved to help Hunk out of his own spot.

The two walked quickly the rest of the way to Pidge’s dorm in a pleasant silence before it was interrupted by the sound of an automatic door unlocking. Lance ,on instinct, leaped back and thrust a hand in front of Hunk preventing him from moving further. The two of them watched as Pidge tiptoed out of their room and raced away- in the direction that Lance knew led to the roof.

“Where do you think he’s going?” Hunk whispered to him.

“Only one way to find out.” Lance responded before racing after Pidge, smiling at the soft footsteps he heard behind him.

XxX

Sneaking up on Pidge was worryingly easy and Lance vaguely wondered how Pidge had gotten away with scanning the Solar system by backpacking off the world’s most efficient deep space scanner for an entire year and no one noticing a thing. But then he remembered it was Pidge. This was kind of their specialty. Lance chuckled as he reached out for one ear of Pidge’s headphones.

“Hey how ya doin lil mama let me whisper in yo ear ” He breathed. Pidge’s shriek of surprise was drowned out by Lance’s raucous laughter. Pidge whipped around, headphones flying off their head and knocking off their glasses.

“Lance! Hunk! W-what are you doing here?” They stammered.

“Us?” Lance asked, smiling. “What are _you_ doing here?”

“I-I uh I was just lookin at stars?”

Lance hummed as he looked over their shoulder at the equipment. Pidge never ceased to amaze him.

“And this stuff? It doesn’t look like Garrison tech.” He observed. A smug smile made its way onto Pidge’s face.

“It’s not. _I_ built it.” They gloated. Hunk crawled to their side and closely examined the machines, reaching out a hand to touch one of the miniature satellites

“You built all this?” Hunk asked and Lance could hear the undertone of amazement in his voice. Pidge quickly slapped his hands away.

“Yep. With this thing I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system.” They bragged.

“Is that so? All the way to Kerberos?” Lance asked knowing the reaction it would elicit. Pidge’s faced fell in a mixture of sadness and anger.

“You go ballistic every time the instructors bring it up! What’s your deal?” Pidge refused to look at Lance but did hiss at Hunk when he reached out a hand to touch the satellite again.

“Pidge. We’re friends we’ll listen if you tell us what’s wrong.” Lance said gently slowly crawling to Pidge's side but not touching them, Pidge hated being physically comforted unless they were the ones to initiate it. Pidge didn’t speak but did look up at Lance and he tried to convey as much honesty through his eyes as he could. Pidge released a sigh and picked up their headphones, adjusting their glasses.

“The Garrison’s been lying to everyone. The Kerberos mission didn’t fail because of a malfunction or crew mistake.”

“Well that’s obvious isn’t it?” Pidge’s head whipped up to meet Lance’s eyes. Lance patted their head and their face scrunched up in confusion.

“Think about it! Dr. Samuel Holt is probably the smartest scientist the Garrison has ever produced-the man’s written textbooks for gods sakes! Takashi Shirogane is literally the most skilled pilot in the Garrison, at seventeen he managed to raise the bar and set a new standard for all future fighter pilots! And Matthew Holt is the youngest graduated cadet to ever be selected for an outerspace observational mission.  That’s a real bonafide dream team right there. If they somehow “messed up” than what hope do any of us have?” Lance said speaking with conviction and a dead serious expression. Pidge’s eyes glimmered and they immediately looked back away.

Lance knew better than to point out Pidge’s quiet sniffles.

Lance allowed for Pidge to have a few moments to compose themselves before they were back to clawing at Hunk who immediately dropped his hold on the satellite disk he had been taking apart. Lance noticed Pidge’s note pad lying open in their lap. The word “Voltron” was in all caps and underlines, accompanied by a drawing of a depiction that wasn’t anywhere close to the real thing but at least they got the sword part right.

“What’s that?” He asked knowing full well what it was. Pidge glanced down and their eyes brightened in excitement.

“Remember how I said I’ve been scanning to the edge of the solar system? Well I’ve been picking up alien radio chatter and they all keep repeating this one word “Voltron” and tonight it’s been going crazier than ever! I think something’s going to happen soon. But I don’t know if it’s good or bad.”

“Whoa! Wait! Aliens?” Hunk panicked.

“What do you mean by “bad”?” Lance asked. The Garrison’s emergency alarm broke the silence and all three looked towards the P.A speaker on the roof across from the one they were on. Iverson’s voice crackled to life.

“Attention all cadets! This is not a drill. We are now on lockdown-Security Situation: Zulu Niner. All cadets are to remain within their barracks until further notice.”

“What’s going on?” Hunk asked worriedly. His shoulders suddenly tightened and he pointed toward the horizon.

“Is that a meteor? A really, really big meteor?” He whimpered. Pidge dug through their back and took out military grade long distance binoculars.

“It’s a ship!” They exclaimed.

 _‘Shiro’_ Lance thought and without thinking laid his hands on top of Pidge’s and brought the binoculars up to his face. He immediately recognized the Galra escape pod design, an excited smile broke out onto his face.

“That’s not one of ours!” He exclaimed. Pidge bent down and began packing away their equipment, in the distance they saw the pod collide with the Earth in a large explosion.

“We have to go see that ship!” Pidge yelled already running towards the stairwell.

“Hunk c’mon!” Lance urged as he chased after Pidge.

Lance felt giddiness rise within him. He was going to see _Shiro_ again.

XxX

Waiting for Keith to show up was taking a lot longer than he thought it was going to. Lance tried to amuse himself by observing Shiro through the camera feed that Pidge managed to set up. But he always got angry when he looked at it for too long.  Shiro was his friend, leader, and the head of Voltron and the Garrison had tied him down like he was some rabid animal.

The thought of how Shiro must’ve been confused and scared when he woke up surrounded by humans in hazmat suits was enough to make Lance grit his teeth in rage.

“He’s awake!” Pidge suddenly exclaimed. Lance rushed to their side, alongside Hunk, and the three watched as Shiro struggled against the restraints. The desperate look in his eyes was not a look that Lance ever wants to see again. Lance couldn't hear the audio since Pidge was wearing the headphones but he could make a guess from what was being said.

“They didn’t ask about the rest of the crew.” Pidge murmured angrily. Lance frowned, sharing her anger.

“Shiro is a legend! Why won’t they listen to him?” It was a question that plagued Lance ever since they first rescued Shiro and to this day he still doesn’t know how or why the Garrison could just tie Shiro up, who had been missing and presumed dead for a year and not even bother listening to Shiro’s warnings.  If Blue hadn’t been on the planet and Lance hadn’t led the Galra away then it’s entirely possible that Earth could’ve ended up another planet to add to Zarkon’s belt. Lance shivered at the thought.

“We have to get him out!” Pidge demanded. Hunk immediately jumped in with protests. Lance felt a tug at the back of his head and immediately turned around.  He knew that feeling. Blue was nudging against his mind, she had been ever since he moved further out into the desert. The connection was weak and incredibly fragile but Lance would recognize her quintessence anywhere. _‘Soon’_ he thought to her. _‘Just be patient for a little longer’._ Lance had initially been worried when he couldn’t feel Blue and could only just barely brush against her if he concentrated hard enough. Now they were out in the desert and closer to Blue than he had been at the Garrison and his connection to her grew stronger. They hadn’t met in this life yet which was why Lance could barely feel her at all but now ,as he listened to the hum of the desert, he could  _feel_ her. How curious that the Guardian Spirit of Water would choose a desert as her hiding place.

The blast of an explosion knocked Lance off his feet and he immediately turned to the sight of large fires burning in the distance. Only one person could’ve set those off.

“Look!” Pidge exclaimed pointing down by the tent Shiro was stored in.  A red hoverbike silently landed and a dark haired figure immediately leaped off.  Lance grabbed Paige's binoculars and desperately set the 'focus' lens on the figure. Red jacket, dark underclothes, and a mullet peeking out from under his mask. Keith. _His Keith_.

Lance felt his throat tighten with emotion, his face twitched, and his eyes stung with unshed tears. Keith was _here._ He was right _there_.

He had to get down there.

Lance lept up from his sitting position and raced down the side of the slightly raised cliff the three were resting on. Hunk and Pidge let out matching sounds of surprise and he heard their footsteps chasing after him as he slid down the side of the cliff. He heard their shouts for him to 'stop!' and 'wait!' but Lance couldn’t. Not when Keith was so _close_.

By the time Lance entered the tent Keith had already taken out the medical personnel inside. Keith’s fringe was sticking to his slightly sweaty forehead, his body tipping over from the strain of holding Shiro up. Keith was here. Keith was here!

“Keith!” He called in happiness a bright, excited smile on his face. Keith’s face whipped up to meet his gaze but no recognition shone in his eyes. Keith scowled and backed up defensively, holding Shiro in one arm and reaching for his knife with the other.

“Who are you?” He spit out. Lance’s face fell and swore he felt his heart split in two. Keith didn’t remember him.  

He hoped….it was a stupid hope….but that didn’t make it hurt any less. Despite his pain Lance slapped a carefree grin on his face and quicky approached Keith, helping him carry Shiro before the red paladin had the chance to react.

“The name’s Lance! We were in the same class at the Garrison, remember?”

Not a single light of recognition lit Keith’s eyes.

“We were rivals! You know! “Lance and Keith neck and neck!” He elaborated, hoping to god that Keith would just show _some_ indication that he recognized him.  A small flicker of recollection sparkled in Keith’s eyes and his frown deepened.

“Oh. I remember you. You were that cargo pilot.”

Keith’s words hurt more than he would ever know. Is that all Lance was now _“that cargo pilot”_? Lance squashed down his feelings of agony and urged Keith to move forward, hurriedly dragging Shiro out of the tent.

“I was. But then you dropped out and I got moved up to fighter class.” He stated matter of factly. Now wasn’t the time for an emotional breakdown-even though his husband didn’t remember him and he was now well and truly by himself-NO! Lock it down Lance! You can always cry later. _You can always cry later_ , he repeated to himself.

Lance and Keith managed to drag Shiro to the hoverbike just as Keith’s distraction began wearing off and various guards and Garrison jeeps began heading their way.

“Hurry! Get on!” Lance ordered Hunk and Pidge as he climbed on the wing of the hoverbike, after making sure Shiro was securely in Pidge’s hands. The bike roared to life and the five of them raced away from their pursuers.  Lance turned his worried gaze back at the jeeps that were getting steadily closer. He remembered Keith excitedly telling Lance about the hoverbike he had back on Earth, how he fixed it up from the junkyard scrap it used to be. Keith had went into so much detail that Lance was sure he knew this bike just as well as this Keith did.

“These bikes usually come equipped with a double fuel tank right? I think now would be a good time to use it Kogane!” He yelled over the wind. Keith’s face was set in stony determination and Lance almost thought he wouldn’t respond.

“They do! But I removed the second one to save fuel!” He yelled back.

What.

“Why in the hell would you do that?! Without the double fuel tank the bike is unbalanced!” He cried. Did this Keith lose his mind or something?! Keith smirked.

“I don’t need a balanced bike to do this: big man lean left!” The hoverbike changed directions at the combined weight of the five paladins. Two of the jeeps were knocked into each other.

“Big man lean right!” The hoverbike flew across a ridge and glided along a sharp turn all in one continuous motion.  The first time this happened Lance had been so busy panicking he hadn't taken a moment to appreciate just how good Keith was at piloting his hoverbike. Lance’s thoughts were interrupted by Hunk’s frantic pointing to the cliff ahead of them. Pidge and Hunk began screaming and begging Keith to stop the bike, but instead the red paladin sped up an excited grin covering his face.

As the hoverbike was in freefall Lance couldn’t contain himself and let out a loud whoop of joy. The wind rushing through his hair, the almost weightless feeling of falling. He had missed this.

The hoverbike sped across the landscape, leaving their pursuers behind at the top of the cliff. Lance couldn’t remember the last time he was this excited.

XxX

It took Shiro a while to wake up from the sedative administered, while waiting he looked around Keith’s shack where he’d been squatting for the year he’d been expelled from the Garrison.  Lance recalled Keith telling him how he enjoyed living out at the shack. It was quiet. No people. No noises. No expectations. It was just him out there. As much as Lance liked to think that Keith was happier with him the truth was that Keith could’ve found his happiness by himself.  The thought hurt but Lance knew he couldn’t just dismiss it. Keith loved him and choose to live out his life with Lance by his side but there had always been a smidge of doubt at the back of his mind.

“So where’d you learn so much about hoverbikes?” A voice asked from behind him. Lance froze and slowly turned around. Keith was watching him with a curious and calculating look like Lance was some kind of anomaly. Lance shrugged his shoulder.

“A good friend of mine really loved them. He used to tell me all about how he built his bike from scratch and all the different parts he scavenged for them.” Keith’s eyes shone  in interest. His curiosity had been peaked.

“That’s cool. Not many people appreciate them anymore, they’re kind of old so only vintage collectors take an interest in them but it's nice to know there’s still some people who can appreciate the classics.” Keith replied, a small grin beginning to form.

Lance snorted. Those were almost the _exact_ same words that his Keith had used.

“Something funny?” Keith asked harshly, his expression no longer light. Lance instantly stopped laughing and approached Keith, shaking his head rapidly.

“No, no, no. It’s not that!" Lance insisted. "It’s just that...my friend said something really close to that and I guess I just thought it was funny. Coincidence ya’ know?”

Keith nodded hesitantly, his brows still furrowed. The sight was so heart wrenchingly familiar that Lance couldn’t stop himself even if he tried.

Lance grabbed Keith’s wrist and even though Keith didn’t pull away his shoulders tensed like a cat whose fur had been stroked the wrong way.

“You really shouldn’t frown so much.” Lance said, softly tapping his knuckle against Keith’s forehead.

“You’ll give yourself wrinkles.” His hand was batted away by an even further deeply scowling Keith, who was probably only doing that because he was petty as shit but Lance loved him anyway.

Lance would always love him.

“Guys, he’s awake!” Both of them turned to Hunk standing at the door of Keith’s shack. Keith shot Lance one more slightly scowled look before racing off to his shack to greet Shiro.

Huh. Somethings really do never change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The team will reunite with Blue, Allura, and Coran next time and Lance will attempt to guide the team to become more like...well a team.


	3. when you get shot (off into space) with no preparation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro wakes up and the team reunites with Blue, Allura, and Coran. (Also Lance may or may not have pissed off Allura-although his intentions were pure. But she'll forgive him. Probably. Eventually.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a lot longer than I originally intended

 Shiro wasn’t very lucid when Lance entered the shack. His eyes had a cloudy appearance and his gaze didn’t linger anywhere for too long. Keith stood hesitantly in front of Shiro, his face a clear painting of uncertainty.

“The dizziness should wear off in a few minutes and he’ll be more coherent.” Pidge explained from Keith’s couch, their gaze lingering on the stacked machines and their dusty surfaces. Lance recognized Pidge’s desire to examine the old technology and quickly redirected the conversation before they had the chance to inquire about the machines.

“Do you have any clothes for him? He can’t exactly go around walking like _that_.” Lance said, referring to Shiro’s slave outfit.

Keith stood silently in thought before he crouched down to his coffee table and pulled out a medium sized box lying underneath it and ripped open the taped flaps. Lance approached and peered in, inside were various small knick knacks-medals, a mug, a picture frame, and a set of clothing and boots-the same one that Shiro had worn when they first became paladins.

“Why do you have that stuff?” Lance asked genuinely curious as Keith delicately extracted the black vest and pants along with the dark boots. Keith frowned, fire flickering in his eyes.

“When the Garrison blamed Shiro for the crash they emptied out his office and room-they were just going to throw it all out! But I stopped them and managed to save some stuff. And they didn’t like that.”He ground out. Lance froze.

“That’s why you got kicked out,” He whispered in realization. Keith made a noise of agreement. His Keith had never told him what exactly got him booted from the Garrison and Lance didn't want to make him uncomfortable by asking, so he never did.

“They accused me of assaulting a superior officer and got rid of me the first chance they got.” He stated (quite bitterly Lance noted) and made no move to elaborate.

“Keith?” A drowsy voice croaked.

Keith shot up from his position on the ground and turned to Shiro who was staring at him with a gaze that was gaining clarity. Shiro slowly lifted himself into a sitting position from the cot he and Keith laid him on hours earlier. A grunt of effort left his lips as he finally reached a sitting position and rubbed the drowsiness from his eyes. Keith slowly approached and silently held out the clothes to Shiro, an unsure expression on his face.

Shiro slowly reached for the offered clothing and brought them to his face, resting his forehead against the fabric. Lance knew how overwhelming the situation must be for him- escaping a hellish prison he’d been trapped in for a year only to be immediately tied up again and by people he used to trust no less! Then finally being able to relax a bit and being presented with something of his that he probably hadn't seen since before he was sent to Kerberos. He was probably in a very delicate state right now and Lance understood that Shiro needed a moment to compose himself, even after years of fighting together Shiro still never allowed himself to breakdown in front of them and Lance was going to change that, but for now he respected Shiro enough to offer him the space he needed.

“Why don’t we all wait outside and give you some time to change?” Lance offered. Shiro looked up at him and Lance almost cried at the broken look in his leader’s eyes. Shiro slowly nodded in agreement and Lance motioned for the rest of them to follow him out.

The four of them stayed by Keith's hoverbike as Shiro changed in the shack. An awkward silence descended among them as they each uncertainly glanced at one another but didn't say anything.

“Soooo I don't think we've met before. I’m Pidge.” Pidge said holding out their hand in greeting to Keith who stared down at it for a moment before gripping it in his own.

“Keith.” He responded.

Hunk shifted back and forth on his feet before lightly coughing.

“Uhhh I’m Hunk, we were in the same class back at the Garrison but you probably don't remember me.” He babbled holding out his hand to Keith who shook it similarly to how he did with Pidge’s.

“I remember you. We were partners in our Machine Maintenance III class.”

Lance tried to ignore the stab of hurt at the implication that Keith really did forget who he was. And instead offered Keith a cheesy grin that never failed to make him flustered.

“We met already but in case you forgot ( _again_ , he added silently)I’m Lance and we were also in the same class.” He held out a hand expecting Keith to take it, but instead Keith stared at his face with an indiscernible expression. Lance’s hand hung awkwardly between them so Lance took the initiative by stepping forward and grabbing Keith’s limp hand and shaking it.

The silence returned between them and was only broken by the sound of Keith's creaky shack door opening, they turned and caught the sight of Shiro in his new outfit, hesitantly stepping out and examining the desert around him as if he didn't quite believe it was real. Lance's heart went out to him and he wished he could step up and reassure Shiro like he had always done for them but Shiro didn't know him well enough yet, which only left Keith as the only possible alternative.

“Maybe you should go talk to him?” Lance suggested. Keith turned a questioning gaze to him and Lance shifted uncomfortably under his gaze.

“You know him better than any of us right? So it’d be best if he was approached by someone familiar rather than strangers.” He reasoned. Keith gave a murmur of assent and set out to greet Shiro, who had moved to a slightly raised hill to watch the sun rise.

 _Paladin._ A voice ghosted in his head when he left. Lance clenched his fists, it was killing him to be so close to Blue and not being able to touch her. Their lack of physical connection was taking its toll on him, Blue knew who he was, who he _really_ was and Lance hadn't realized just how desperately he had been seeking assurance that his life as a paladin wasn't just some elaborate dream until Blue first made her presence known. Blue was his friend, his partner, his mother, and sister-she was everything and the bond they had was unlike anything he had ever experienced and he knew that just as he longed to be reunited with her she too longed for him.

Lance urged Hunk and Pidge into the shack knowing that Shiro and Keith would show up soon enough and they'd go searching for his Blue.

 _Soon._ He responded gently and felt her whine.

_Soon._

XxX

Waiting for the others to climb the rocky terrain was nerve wracking. Keith had lots of experience in the desert and Lance was anxious to reunite with Blue so the both of them were helping the others climb onto ridges and slide down the unstable sides of the natural formations. As they got closer to Blue’s cave Lance felt excitement bubbling in his stomach, Hunk was leading the group with his homemade geiger counter and Lance was speed walking beside him and upon sight of the cave Lance jumped down the short ledge.

“This is it right?” He asked Keith and Hunk who were carefully climbing down as well.

“Yeah, this one is filled with carvings-they’re everywhere.” Keith answered. Lance nodded and waited for Shiro to finish helping Pidge climb down before they all went in as a group. Lance felt Blue’s excitement at his presence double.

 _Paladin. Paladin. Paladin. My Paladin._ They whispered reverently. Lance felt tears gather in his eyes.

 _Blue._ he responded. _I’m here._

The floor collapsed below their feet.

XxX

If Lance was being honest he could have done without the harsh landing and from the groans of the other paladins they would probably agree. Lance rose from his position on the ground and shook off the water before he gazed ahead at him in amazement.  Blue was surrounded by her forcefield and gazing into his eyes as he slowly approached her, listening to the other paladins as they wondered if Blue was the “Voltron”.

Keith walked beside him as they both approached Blue. Keith carefully laid a hand on Blue’s forcefield and lightly pushed against it.

“I wonder how we get through here.” He thought aloud. Lance grinned as he approached Blue’s barrier.

“Maybe you just have to knock.” He offered, silently laughing at his inside joke. Blue’s barrier immediately shattered in a spectacle of light and Lance was overwhelmed by the surge of emotion and visions that Blue delivered him. Lance said nothing for a while as he resisted the urge to start crying in happiness from having someone to share his burden of knowledge with.

“Did everyone see that?” Keith asked hesitantly.

“Voltron is a robot” Hunk yelled. “Voltron is a huge, huge awesome robot!” He bellowed.

“And this thing is only one part of it! I wonder where the rest of them are!” Pidge exclaimed.

“This is what they’re looking for.” Shiro realized.

“Incredible.”Keith breathed.

 _‘You have no idea.’_ Lance thought. Blue purred against his mind, both were so relieved to finally be reunited with each other.

Blue rose up from her sitting position, releasing a loud roar, scaring both Hunk and Pidge, before crouching down in front of Lance and opening the way into their cockpit. Lance didn’t waste a second before rushing into the familiar blue station.

He took his place at the familiar pilot’s chair and immediately began reconfiguring the seat settings, he fought uncomfortably through a good number of battles before he figured out he could adjust the seat for his height and comfort and like hell was he going through that again. He heard the others begin to board just as he finished and Blue opened her visuals, not that he needed it. Lance could literally fly Blue with his eyes closed. Lance sighed in happiness as he gripped her steering staffs, the feeling of home filling him. He felt the others come up by his chair and exclaim in amazement at Blue.

“Okay guys, I feel like I should point out that we are in a giant, futuristic, alien cat head right now” Hunk interjected. Lance smiled as he shifted the controls and Blue stood up from her crouched positioning, all but Lance let out cries of surprise at the sudden movement. Lance smirked and reached out to the holographic keyboard to warm up the engines and cannons.

“Hold onto your butts!” He laughed and before any protests could be voiced, he blasted out of the underground cavern so that Blue was racing across the desert. Shouts of shock echoed throughout the cockpit as Lance shot through the desert at lightning speed before lifting off and flying through the air at roaring heights. Blue’s excitement at finally being free from the cavern and being with her paladin overrode any of Lance’s logic and they flew as Lion and pilot united as one before the connection was severed by Hunk’s begging.

“Make it stop! Make it stop!” He yelled, gripping Lance’s jacket in a tight fist.

“Sorry man! She’s really excited! It’s my fault.” He apologized as he urged Blue to stop her erratic flying and exchange it for a more smooth flight, forgetting that Hunk still hadn’t overcome his motion sickness.

“She?” Keith asked curiously. Lance nodded fervently, forgetting he hadn’t indicated that Blue was sentient.

“She can hear us, she’s the one who told me how to get her to fly and how to stop. I’m pretty sure all the other Lions have a semblance of consciousness like her!”

Just as Lance finished explaining an alert popped up on his left hand screen.

“What’s that?” Pidge asked worriedly. Lance tapped on the warning and quickly read the coordinates it detailed.

“There’s an alien ship approaching Earth. Blue says we have to stop it before it gets too close.” Lance explained before increasing speed and leading Blue to the coordinates. Lance wanted to destroy the Galra ship, it was too close to Earth and though nothing became of it the first time the risk was still there. But first, he had to know….

“Shiro were there any other prisoners on that ship?” Lance asked when they finally caught sight of it. Lance felt Shiro tense up behind him, he hadn’t thought of that either.

“I-I don’t know. Maybe? I think. Or was I the only one on board?... I-I don’t know. My head’s so fuzzy I can’t remember.” Shiro whispered uncertainly. Lance heard the distress in his voice and quickly switched tactics.

“It’s fine! Don’t worry about it! We won’t destroy the ship so any people on board won’t get hurt.” Lance assured as he maneuvered Blue around the lasers and shot at the fighter carriers that he knew to be near the underbelly of the ship-all of the Galra’s battleship’s and cargo ships layout were identical which made infiltration easy. Lance expertly fired Blue’s tail cannon and disabled the ship’s firing tracker on him.

“You’re good.” Keith whispered in amazement. Lance smiled brightly and began spiraling away from the ship so it was forced to chase Blue.

“Thanks my dude.” Lance responded happily, glad that Keith gave him a compliment that didn't include a backhanded insult (as unintentional as they may be.)

“...For a cargo pilot.” Aaaaand there it was.

“I’m confused. How can you be so good at piloting an alien warship and somehow blow up the ship in the simulator mid flight?” Asked Pidge because of course they had to bring up what happened yesterday.

“Mid flight?” Asked Shiro incredulously.

“Yeah. Iverson was really ticked off, started screaming about how Lance didn't belong in the program and only got in because Keith dropped out.” Hunk explained.

“That's a really shitty thing to say.” Keith frowned, his face scrunched in distaste for the information he’d just learned.

“Well that's Iverson-he’s had it out for me ever since he had to kick out his “star pupil” and let some mediocre washup into the program.” Lance sighed, slightly speeding up Blue as she gave warning about summoning a wormhole to escape the Galra. Plus it wasn’t like he cared about what happened at the Garrison anymore, it was years ago.

“You’re not a washup.” Shiro insisted. Lance grinned and slightly tilted his head back to look at him.

“I know. Like fuck Iverson that douchecanoe wouldn’t know real talent if it took his other eye.” Okay so maybe Lance was a _little_ bitter about his experience at the Garrison. The team’s pending argument was cut short at the sight of a newly opened wormhole directly in front of Blue.

“What is that!” Hunk shouted.

“Blue says it’s a wormhole, It’ll get those guys off our tail!”

“Where does it go?”Pidge asked hesitantly.

“I don’t know.” Lance responded. “Shiro, you’re our senior officer. What should we do?”

Shiro’s face tightened and the question. “Whatever is going on now the lion knows more than we do. But we’re a team now and we should decide together.”

The five paladins glanced at each other and a silent motion of agreement passed between the five of them. Lance felt excited at the sight of their first act as a team and turned his attention back to Blue.

“Alright beautiful, let’s see what’s in store for us.”

Lance pushed Blue into the wormhole and took in the kaleidoscopic acid trip experience that was associated with this type of travel.

He really had missed this.

XxX

The Castle of Lions looked exactly as it did the last time Lance saw it (though this castle didn’t have the slight wear and tear of battle tacked onto it.)

The five paladins were following the lit up hallways to the cryogenic pods where Allura and Coran were stored and Lance felt his anxiousness rise the closer they got. The devastation at learning about the death of Altea and Alfor would no doubt hit them hard, there was nothing Lance could do about that and Lance was not looking forward to seeing his friends in pain. Allura’s true hatred of the Galra race would start here and Lance would do all he could to convince her otherwise because he couldn’t live with himself if he allowed Keith to suffer the way he did at the discovery of his maternal heritage. Lance loved Allura and he loved Keith, he didn’t want either of them to suffer but they would anyway. At least Lance could make it so Allura was a little more open minded at the possibility of there being Galra that didn’t side with Zarkon. Yes. That would work for now.

The doors to the main hull of the Castleship opened and the five paladins stepped inside warily. Lance subtly pushed Shiro closer to where Allura would fall out of the pods because a.) He wanted to push the two of them together sooner and b.)He didn’t want Allura to almost break his arm again. A ‘whoosh’ sound filled the room and the paladins stepped back at the sight of the sight of two cryopods rising from the ground. Lance was able to make out the silhouettes of Coran and Allura.

“Are those guys….dead?” Hunk asked hesitantly. Allura’s cryopod rapidly unfroze and she let out a cry for her father before tipping forward. Shiro, who was closest to her rushed and caught her before she hit the ground. Allura shifted her head to look up at Shiro who blinked down at her in confusion.

“Who are you? Where am I?” She asked him while looking around the room in a disoriented manner. Shiro helped her stand up on her own before replying.

“I can’t really answer that question. A Blue lion brought us all here from our home planet, Earth. We know just as much as you do about what’s going on. Tell us who you are maybe we can help.” He said sincerely. Allura appeared to consider his words before she froze and leaned in closely to study his face, squinting slightly. Shiro took a step away from her, a light flush rising on his cheeks.

“Your ears….” She murmured, eyeing him critically. Shiro had a lost expression on his face.

“Yes?” He prompted.

“They’re hideous.” She remarked.

 _‘Ooooh, that is ice cold’_ Lance thought trying to stop a snort of laughter from being released at the sight of Shiro’s crestfallen expression.

Allura straightened her back and addressed the rest of them. “I am Princess Allura of Planet Altea and this is my castle, now please excuse me but I must find out how long we’ve been asleep.”

Allura maneuvered around Shiro as she approached the controls, turning them on in order to learn about the situation. Hunk and Pidge oohed over the advanced technology with Shiro standing watch close by. The sound of the second cryopod opening drew Lance’s attention and prompted him to turn around. Coran’s eyes shot open and caught sight of a startled Keith standing close by.

“Enemy combatants!” He yelled charging at Keith who immediately got into a fighting stance, pulling back his fist, ready to let it fly when Coran reached him-but was immediately blocked when Lance swiftly stepped in front of him, stopping Coran’s would-be assault.

“Whoa, whoa!” Lance exclaimed, frantically waving his arms in front of him.

“We’re on your side! We’re all on the same side! Blue will testify to that!” He insisted as Coran reluctantly lowered his arm and a leg (in a disappointed manner too Lance noted).

“I could have handled that.” Keith’s voice grumbled behind him. Lance smiled gently,  turned around and softly pinched Keith’s cheeks who frowned and attempted to grab his arm but Lance dropped it before he could.

“I know you could darling but fighting shouldn’t happen among friends.”He said enthusiastically. Lance noticed (very happily) that Keith’s face flushed at his words.

“D-Darling?” He sputtered. Lance grinned cheekily and was about to tease him more but froze at the sound of Allura’s shocked gasp.

Shit. She’s realized what happened. Lance’s smile fell of his face and he slowly turned to face Allura’s devastated expression.

“Coran,...we’ve been asleep for 10,000 years.” She choked out, her hands frozen on the keyboard as she stared, horrified, at the information screen in front of her. “Father, Altea, and all the planets in our system have been destroyed.”

Coran’s face became overwhelmed with sadness and Lance took a step toward him, laying a comforting hand on his shoulder. Coran’s face turned to meet his and Lance knew his face was similarly tilted in grief. Coran sniffled a bit before giving a pained smile to Lance who nodded and carefully stepped away to give him some space. It wasn’t often that Coran was sad but when he was the best course of action was to show he had a companion nearby that sympathized with him before backing off to allow him time to work through his feelings. Lance turned his attention back to Allura who had her face twisted in an expression of rage.

“Zarkon.” She growled, her eyes alight in fiery anger. Out of the corner of his eye Lance saw Shiro’s back tense and his breathing get heavier.

“Zarkon?” He asked, his complexion paled, a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead.

“I know that name. I was his prisoner.” He revealed, looking at a shocked Allura.

“He’s alive? Impossible.” She shook her head in denial.

“Well it kind makes sense to me.” Lance mused. Everyone in the room turned a questioning gaze to him. Lance knew he’d regret making them all paranoid, but he had to. It was for their own benefit.

“Well Blue’s a giant mechanical lion cat-but she’s sentient. A machine having free thought isn’t really possible so my theory is this: Magic.” He said doing jazz hands to lighten the tension. “And if Magic can make a giant lion ship compliment my eyes than why can’t it make a war lord live forever?” He asked shrugging. Coran took his words into consideration and got a pensive look on his face.

“Whatever it was that’s kept Zarkon alive for all these years it hasn’t changed what he’s done! He and the rest of the Galra are conquerors, enemies to all free people!” She said acidly.

“That...doesn’t seem very fair.” Lance said hesitantly, he had never enjoyed being on the receiving end of Allura’s anger.

“Are you defending them?” She spit out, turning to face Lance.

“Zarkon is a monster! He’s hated all Alteans since before the war began! He killed my Father! My Planet! My people!” She shouted, getting into Lance’s face. He knew this tactic, when Allura really lost control of her emotions and rationality she would try to intimidate the other party into submitting to her. He’s seen her do this a handful of times over the years and even been on the receiving end once or twice, but Lance refused to back down.

“And how then are you any different?” He responded, watching her face crease in slight confusion.

“I am nothing like him.” She growled indignantly.

“You just said that all Galra were “enemies”! You’re condemning an entire group of people to the same fate all because you’re blinded by your hatred of one person!" Lance began. "You’re better than this! Please at least think about what I’ve said, I know you’re in pain and you don’t want to risk looking at things from a perspective that might make you weaker. But being merciful may be better than killing someone who may not be a threat and was just trying to protect their planet or people.” Lance insisted, softening his voice as Allura looked away from him. She said nothing for a while before turning her back to him and tensely marching back to her position at the Castle’s controls.

“I think you might’ve made the Princess angry at you.” Hunk said uneasily as he came up to stand beside Lance.

“She’ll get over it.” Lance stated. She may ignore him for a little while but eventually she’d understand what he'd been trying to do.

Hopefully.

XxX

Coran was insisting that Allura eat as she was running a scan over the Castle’s working systems and attempting to get others back online.

“I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology 10,000 years ago. It must have been an incredible place.” Shiro said awed as he took a deeper look around the room. Coran’s face creased in sadness

“Yes, it was. But now it’s gone and we're the last Alteans alive.” He said turning to Allura who frowned, tears moistening her eyes. She leant into Coran as soft, quiet sobs escaped her. She suddenly lifted her head and gently pulled away from Coran, quickly approaching her cryopod where a soft squeaking could be heard. A relieved smile crossed her face.

“Looks like we're not the last, after all.”

An alarm suddenly blared, startling all of them. Coran quickly approached the control panel.

“A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us!” He reported.

“How did they find us?” Allura asked shocked.

“It wasn’t by using Blue. If they launched a tracker on her she would’ve told me.” Lance pointed out.

“They might’ve already known this is where she would head.” Suggested Keith.

“Yeah, but then wouldn’t it make sense for there to be Galra ships or soldiers already guarding the Castle?” Lance said reflectively. This was good they were starting to make questions they hadn’t thought of until months later.

“How long before they arrive?” asked  Shiro  

“At their speed? Oh, well, carry the two I'd say probably a couple of days.” Coran responded as he counted with his fingers.

“Good.” Said Shiro calmly.

“Let them come! By the time they get here, you five will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire!” Immediately said Allura as she directed the rest of them to gather around her.

“Princess, there are five of these lions. How are we going to find the rest?” Shiro asked.

“King Alfor connected the lions to Allura's life force. She alone is the key to the lions' whereabouts.” Coran explained as Allura closed her eyes and a holographic map of the universe was summoned into existence. The five paladins exclaimed in amazement at the sight.

“These are coordinates. The Black Lion looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Lion.” Pointed out Pidge

“Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage.” Coran praised as he knelt down to pat them on the head.

“Very observant. That's because the Black Lion is in the castle.“ Smiled Allura.

“To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the castle. It can only be freed if the other four lions are present.” Explained Coran

“As you have found, the Lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his Lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain.” Said Allura as she moved the chart around to place each lion in front of their designated pilots.

“The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion.” She said with finality to a serious Shiro.

“The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion.” She informed an amazed Pidge

The Blue Lion.” She stated coldly and Lance resisted the urge to flinch. “Will go to Lance.” She said simply before moving on, not sparing Lance a glance.

“The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together.” Allura said smiling wistfully at a confused and slightly scared Hunk.

“The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion.” Keith smiled smugly, but Lance could see the nervousness in his eyes. Lance nudged him so he would look at him.

“Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you Mr. Fighter Pilot.” Lance said smiling reassuringly at Keith who returned his soft expression before glancing over his shoulder and looking away quickly. Lance glanced behind him and saw the teasing look on Shiro’s face. How strange.

“Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion's coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the castle. After 10,000 years, it might need some work.” Sheepishly stated Allura.

“Don't worry, we'll find it soon. They don't call me "The Coranic" for nothing. It's because it sounds like "mechanic.  So Coranic, mechanic. It's not-- It doesn't sound exactly like it. It's similar.” Interjected Coran. Suddenly all the lions roared and flew to the center of the room, combining in a great show to form Voltron.

“Once all the Lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe!” Exclaimed Allura as the silhouette of Voltron slowly disappeared.

“Okay, we're going to be in there and flying lions. Got that part. How do lions turn into legs? Is this going to be a long trip? I have to pee. Do you people pee?” Hunk asked.

“We don't have much time. Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the Yellow one. Keith, you stay here. If you locate that Red Lion, go get it.” Interrupted Shiro.

“In the meantime, I'll get this castle's defenses ready. They'll be sorely needed.” Assured Allura

“I'll ready a pod and load the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion.” Coran stated. The five paladins each set themselves up to retrieve their respective lions.

As Lance and Hunk flew to the designated wormhole Coran’s voice came over the screen to the right of Lance.

“We can only keep the wormholes that lead to the other lions open for two of your Earth hours, so you'll have to be quick about your work. The good news is that according to my readings, both planets are relatively peaceful. So, if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives. Enjoy the trip!” He exclaimed, smiling happily over the sound of the protesting paladins.

XxX

Retrieving the Yellow Lion went relatively the same as last time, except Blue didn’t receive as much damage and mainly purred happily during Lance’s fight with the Galra. Upon arrival back to the castle Lance and Hunk greeted the other Paladins as well as Coran and Allura, who ignored his greeting. Lance ignored the tinge of hurt the action gave him and reminded himself that she just needed time. After all, a complete stranger who supposedly knew nothing about the situation accused her of being the same as Zarkon he’d probably ignore himself too.

“Did we find the Red Lion yet?” Shiro asked.

“Allura just located it. There's a bit of good news and bad news. The good news is, the Red Lion's nearby. The bad news is, it's on board the Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But wait, good news again. We're Arus!” Coran exclaimed, happily.

“They're here already?” Asked Shiro, shocked.

“Yes. Guess my calculations were a bit off. Finger counting-- It's more of an art than a science.” Apologized Coran. Suddenly the projector at the front of the room fizzed and Sendak’s face popped up.

“Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the Lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet.” He said caustically glaring at everyone in the room before ending the transmission.

“All right, let's not panic.” Shiro stated immediately, trying to reassure them.

“Not panic? The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us!” Hunk exclaimed. “We only have four lions.-”

“-Technically, only three working lions.” Interjected Pidge

“That's right. Thank you, Pidge. Three working lions and a castle that's, like, 10,000 years old.” Hunk said, anxiety creeping into his voice. “Now is the perfect time to panic!” He yelled

“Wait! This castle has a particle barrier we can activate.” Realized Allura.

“The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever. The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last.” Coran explained.

“Panic now?” Whimpered Hunk

“No. We've just got to figure out our plan of action, and figure it out quickly.” Shiro declared, a bit of panic trailing at the end of his voice.

Lance considered this for a moment- Allura was unsure of what she had to do, she hadn’t yet grown as a leader and hearing Hunk’s insistence to leave Arus and both Pidge and Keith arguing with him over it he nudged Shiro so he would lean down to him.

“Shiro there were Galra on the Planet that Hunk recovered the Yellow Lion so they’ve probably reported it by now and they know we have the Blue already so that means they may not know about the Green Lion. We can use that to our advantage. And we can’t leave Arus, the risk of them finding us again is too high-since we still don’t know how they’re tracking us. But Allura is still mad at me and won’t listen to anything I suggest so you have to be the one to ask her-she knows more about the Galra than we do.” Lance whispered quickly. Shiro nodded, his hair brushing against Lance’s cheek before he straightened and addressed Allura, cutting off the three arguing Paladins.

“Princess Allura, these are your lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?”

Allura furrowed her brows, her eyes reflecting how lost she felt and Lance felt horrible that she had so much responsibility thrust onto her so suddenly.

“I-I don't know.” She whispered unsurely

“Perhaps your father can help.” Coran suggested gently. Allura’s unsure face turned to face him.

“My father?” She asked hesitantly. Coran led Allura out of the room, leaving the five paladins by themselves. Shiro turned to face the rest of them.

“Lance and I have started forming a plan but we need to work together to finalize the details, no matter what Allura decides we may need to be prepared to face the Galra soon.” Shiro explained.

The four paladins turned to Lance who hesitated to speak, all of them were new to this situation and he wasn’t sure how to introduce it to them. Keith and Pidge both had personal reasons for wanting to board the Galra ship but Hunk was still scared and lacked the confidence or purpose to fight the Galra. But now was as good as any.

“Hunk and me will be the distractions.” Lance said.

“What?!” Yelled Hunk.

“Hunk we need to! They don’t know about Pidge’s Lion so it’s the perfect cover to get Shiro and Keith onboard! Plus leaving Arus just can’t be an option, it’s like Allura said-her and Coran have been asleep for 10,000 years, that’s plenty of time for a species to develop. The natives on this planet don’t deserve to die just because we were too scared to fight!” Lance insisted. He could see Hunk was being worn down by the argument.

“Do you trust me?” He asked. Hunk looked confused and unsure of the question.

“What?”

“Do you trust me?” Lance repeated patiently. Hunk stood silently before slowly nodding his head.

“Of course I do.” He responded.

“Then trust me to have your back. I won’t let Sendak hurt you. I promise. I’ll be right there with you the entire time.”

Hunk was silent for a moment longer before he nodded in certainty but then hesitated.

“You promise?” He whispered. Lance smiled and approached him, gripping his shoulder reassuringly.

“I could never leave you my dude.” Lance smiled and waited for Hunk to smile back. Their moment was broken by the sound of the door sliding open and Allura gliding out in full battle regalia, her face set in a look of fierce determination.

“You five paladins were brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope.” She stated seriously. The five paladins stood together and rose up reflecting her look of determination.

“We're with you, Princess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll try to post the next chapter by Friday but 2 of my AP classes have assigned project due this week so it may not be uploaded until Sunday but I'll do my best.


	4. sendak sucks major dick(pass it on)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team retrieves the red lion and forms Voltron.

If Lance was being honest he had missed his bayard, like a _lot._  It was a comforting weight in his hands and it’s energy vibrating his quintessence back to him was life a breath of fresh air.

Lance had never truly mastered his bayard. The only two paladins that he had known of were Zarkon and Pidge, who displayed the innate trait of transforming their bayard to suit their needs and their mastery stemmed more from their natural curiosity and practicality than pure will power like Zarkon. Hunk managed to transform his bayard a few times and took that title among the paladins, though they were unintentional and mainly came about as a response to his high emotional state.

Lance actually wasn’t sure about Keith and Shiro-both of them seemed content with their own weapons and Shiro _carried_ his bayard but never really used it. That was understandable considering it took the form of a khopesh-like weapon, incredibly common within the Galra gladiator rings.

But still, having his rifle back within reach was satiating. His happiness didn’t last long since the five paladins were immediately sent to start the plan to retrieve the Red Lion. The ride was quiet and tense as this was their first _real_ battle with the Galra and Lance remembered how nervous he was during the first few battles. None of them had ever been involved with something of this magnitude-the responsibility of having the safety of the entire Universe thrust onto your young shoulders was pretty nerve wracking. Lance was well into his seventies and lived a long life, filled with joys and disappointments, but now the oldest one among them was Shiro- who was still too young to have this responsibility in his hands. Shiro had never asked for this, none of them had. All they wanted to do was explore their solar system and collect space rocks. But instead Shiro got kidnapped by Aliens, Pidge lost her brother and father , Keith got kicked out of the only place he had a future, and both Hunk and Lance were forced to abandon their families. And yet... Lance is still happy at the chance to do it all over again.

XxX

“Lance?” Hunk’s nervous voice filtered through the comms.

“What exactly is the plan?” He asked, fear creeping into every corner of his voice.

“Deep breaths Hunk, we’ll be okay.” Lance assured. He waited for Hunk to take the instructed breath before speaking again.

“We’ll tell them we’re surrendering our Lions- that should leave their guard open long enough for the others to sneak onboard. The main issue though, is that cannon they have attached to the front of their ship-Coran said the Castle couldn’t take much damage because Galra tech has gotten better. Your Lion can pack a bigger punch than Blue so you focus on getting rid of the cannon while Blue and I keep the Galra off your tail.” Lance explained easily. Hunk took a deep breath and hummed shakily in agreement.

“I won’t let you get hurt and neither will Yellow.” Lance said with finality as they neared Sendak’s ship.

“She can take a beating and your Lion is the most armored out of all of us so just focus on taking out that cannon okay buddy?” Lance asked softly Hunk made an uncertain noise before agreeing.

Both Lions lay in front of the large Galra battleship and Lance felt an overwhelming amount of nostalgia hit him.

He hadn’t faced off against a Galra battlecruiser in years- his prime years as a paladin were spent suppressing uprisings and bloody civil wars on various planets, catching Zarkon wannabe’s, and hunting down war generals that had committed heinous  crimes during Zarkon’s reign.

The Galra population had been fed highly edited events and propaganda about the actual acts of the Empire for years, the only one’s privy to the truth were those in the military who couldn’t say anything without the risk of getting killed. In the minds of the Galra- their precious emperor Zarkon was a benevolent ruler who, although often times absent in the public eye, loved and protected them. Posters of an idealized Zarkon decorated the walls of children's rooms, toys and movies painting Zarkon as a father like protector were projected on every newschannel and sold in every store. The truth had been shocking, and for the most part the Galra refused to believe it- accusing Allura of lying to everyone, she was after all Altean (reputed to be one of the most untrustworthy and disturbed alien races in the Universe and thank goodness Zarkon managed to get rid of them save for a few.) Lance knew how difficult it was for Allura in getting the Galra to accept the truth, and now he had a chance to make it easier on her.  

One of the few things that really pushed the Galra into accepting Zarkon’s crimes was the existence of the Gladiator ring. Old slaves came forward telling the horrifying stories of being snatched from their homes, branded like animals, and then forced to fight for their lives in a carnival of carnage for the sake of sick _entertainment._ They were indisputable evidence-living and breathing, able to recount their stories and a few of those people were onboard Sendak’s ship at the very moment.

Lance was going to make sure Zarkon wasn’t taken down just by Voltron but also by his own people. That would bring a semblance of justice for Shiro’s year in captivity, Altea and her people, the Balmerans, and every other person who had suffered because of Zarkon. Zarkon hadn’t paid for his crimes, he had only died. Shiro still had nightmares, Allura and Coran still wept for their people, and Keith forever felt ashamed that he was part Galran. Zarkon had hurt Lance’s family, people he loved and this time around Lance wasn’t going to let him go without making sure he knew that he had lost his disgusting empire, the love of his people, and the loyalty of the Black Lion-then and only then would he be allowed to die. Lance's bitter and anger fueled thoughts were cut off by the sound of the tractor beam firing up.

"Hunk! Scatter! Now!" Lance yelled urgently. Hunk let out a panicked gasp and immediately swerved away, fighters began pouring out of the ship and immediately began pursuing both of them. Lance fired a few shots at the fighters chasing Hunk, who had begun attacking the barrier protected Ion cannon.  

Lance had to get rid of as many as possible, as quickly as he could or they'd be an unnecessary distraction for when the team formed Voltron. But Lance was struggling, his brief lapse of attention had cost him the awareness of the different areas the fighters would be so his knowledge about Galra fighter formations was all but useless in the fast paced battle he was involved in. Lance grunted as a few shots nicked Blue's hind legs.

"Keith, baby, please tell me you've found your Lion." Lance said as he rapidly fired Blue's tail cannon at group of incoming fighters. Keith's voice crackled to life in his helmet.

"I just found it." He said, his voice dripping in triumph. Lance smiled in adoration.

"...-And don't call me "baby"." He seemed to add as an afterthought. Lance chuckled lightly, Keith loved his nicknames he knew that for a fact.

"Hunk, buddy, how ya holding up?" Lance asked as he led a group of fighters closer to the ship so their missed shots would hit it instead of him. Hunk let out an aggravated groan in response.

"This stupid thing won't break!"He yelled in frustration, a grunt of effort escaping him. Lance had just managed to clear his surrounding area of fighters and only had a few left when a familiar roar sounded from his left visual. Lance turned and was greeted by the sight of the Red Lion racing toward him.

Red opened her jaws, biting down on one of the fighters. She threw her body in a circular formation, hitting the last few fighters in bright explosions. Keith's face popped up on one of his holo-screens, smirking at having "saved" Lance.

"Looked like you were in trouble _cargo pilot_." He said teasingly. Lance felt a shiver go down his spine at the affection in Keith's voice. He could feel the "I love you" tipping on the edge of his lips, and opened his mouth to speak.

"You are so extra." Lance responded, grinning at Keith's widened eyes.

"If you two are done flirting, we're heading back now." Pidge said, resigned, over the coms.

Lance's face fell at their tone. That's right, Pidge had been hoping to find her family onboard Sendak's ship. The subject of Pidge's family, had remained unspoken for years. Voltron had eventually discovered what happened to them and….it wasn't pretty. Samuel Holt had contracted and died of an alien disease for which humans were not immunized in the Eurethe work camps in sector VG45-B of the Galra empire, three years after Kerberos. Matthew Holt was sent to the Grenge mining colony in the G-3-R09 Galaxy and was killed during a slave riot, two years after Kerberos. They were some of the "lucky" ones, most slaves lasted eight years before succumbing to exhaustion, conditions, illness, or starvation. Pidge had been devastated- they had been too late. They had all been too late. Shiro and Pidge and fallen into slumps-Shiro blaming himself for their deaths, he was afterall the pilot of the ship that put them on Kerberos, and Pidge blaming themselves for not looking hard enough and not being fast enough. That was one particular event that Lance wanted to prevent more than anything.

“Lance?” Keith’s voice rang through Lance’s cockpit, snapping him to attention. Keith was looking at him unsurely as they reentered Arus’s atmosphere.

“You okay? You zoned out for a minute.” He pointed out as they approached the Castle. Lance shakily smiled at Keith.

“I’m alright I just remembered something unpleasant. But I’m fine now, promise.” He lied as he smiled reassuringly to a slightly disbelieving Keith. “Let’s go get the Black Lion!” Lance exclaimed as he flew ahead of Keith to enter the castle.

“Whatever you say Lance.” He murmured as the five Lions flew towards the newly particle barrier protected castle.

XxX

The Black Lion was just as overwhelmingly magnificent as the last time Lance had seen her. Blue grumbled in his mind at the thought and Lance sent a quick, sincere apology.  Watching Shiro enter his Lion and appear in his mind just as the other already were made Lance giddy-they were connected again, all of the paladins. Lance had missed their presence at the back of his head, while on Earth, everything was so _silent._ But now Lance could feel Shiro (who was calming and reassuring), Pidge (who was curious and amazed), Keith (who was excited and passionate), and Hunk (who was gentle and worried). Lance felt _whole_ again, he hadn’t realized how empty he truly was until the five paladins were part of him again.

He felt a wad of emotion build up in his throat- his old team was gone, his Keith, his Hunk, his Shiro, his Pidge, his Allura, his Coran. All of them were gone, and this new team was different and he couldn’t hold them to the same expectations or standards anymore, that wasn’t fair to them. Lance sighed deeply and rested his head on his chair, a weight had finally been lifted-he’d been so focused on how the paladin’s _used_ to be he hadn’t paid much mind to how they were now. At least for now, things were making a little more sense. Lance closed his eyes and allowed himself to relax, just for a moment.

The moment was immediately broken by the sound of the castle’s alarm.

XxX

“So does anyone know how to form Voltron?” Pidge asked as the five Lion flew to Sendak’s newly repaired ship, while avoiding the drastically lower number of fighters.

“That’s a good question,” Shiro stated uncertainty as Allura urged them to form Voltron from the coms.

“The Lions all merge to become one giant super weapon, right? We’re each one part of the whole Voltron, so we must have to be in synch and move together as one unit!” Lance exclaimed as he maneuvered Blue to fly beside Hunk.

“Yeah, but how do we ‘synchronize”?” Hunk asked as he turned sharply to avoid enemy fire.

Lance hesitated, forming Voltron wasn’t something he ever needed to explain it just _was_. When Voltron was needed Lance would reach out for the other paladins, and open himself up while waiting for them to do the same-then his limbs would become theirs and theirs would become his-they would all become one person and it was a bond unlike anything Lance had ever felt.

“Maybe we should try flying in sync? That’s a kind of unity isn’t it?” Keith asked as he shot at a fighter on Lance’s tail. The five lions maneuvered themselves together and Lance could feel the slightest bit of a pull in his gut but it wasn’t anywhere near strong enough to form Voltron. Lance truly was starting from the bottom. The pull in his gut stopped, and suddenly a harsh, invasive tug began grabbing his Lion.

“I feel something!” Keith exclaimed. “I think we’re forming!”

“No! This isn’t right!” Lance yelled in confusion.

“Lance is right, look!” Shiro pointed to Sendak’s ship that was drawing them in. The paladins began yelling in panic as Lance desperately reached for his connection to his friends. They can do it, he knows they can! They might not be the same people but they were still his friends! Lance shut his eyes as Shiro yelled in his commanding voice. Lance could feel them, they were right there, he was reaching for them! So why can’t he-? A sudden rush hit him and knocked the wind out of his lungs. The other paladins were meeting him halfway and Lance could’ve cried in happiness. Stars burst behind his eyelids as the familiar tug in his gut increased in strength.

Finally…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GUESS WHO'S SCHOOL GOT CANCELED DUE TO SNOW!!!!! I'll be honest this isn't the full chapter-i'm planning to work on it during the weekend and hopefully post it before monday but the extra day let me write this and post it so i can still keep my promise!  
> Also thanks to all the people who wished me luck on my AP projects! i'll officially be done with them tomorrow so i'm happy about that!


	5. i've met sendak before: he offered me weed in a Denny's parking lot.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sendak is a douche, an unexpected event occurs, Allura and Lance's relationship starts to get fixed, and Lance has a bit of a breakdown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo I know I promised this last monday and i.....i have no excuse i'm sorry. I kept telling myself 'okay i'm going to finish the chapter and post it!' But my trash brain just kept going 'lol no u hoe we're watching animals react to their reflections today and that pattern continued....for a week. but it's here now! i hope you find it worth the wait.

Lance was over the fucking moon. His exhilaration reached an all time high as Voltron pushed away Sendak’s ship and destroyed it in a fiery explosion. Lance was grinning so hard his face hurt as he listened to the other paladins exclaim in amazement at the feeling of forming Voltron. None of them registered the feeling yet though, adrenaline from the battle and happiness from surviving overrode their senses but eventually they’d feel it too and Lance was patient enough to wait for them.

Lance didn’t even need to think as he immediately reacted to the urges of the other paladins- _step forward, bend your knee, step backward, position left, position right_ . The commands were as unconscious as the ones one may have when they themselves were walking and running, but the commands came from Shiro whose strong guidance was reassuring for Lance, who had been in a state of indecisiveness since they left Earth.

A pulse of power ran through Lance as he acted, alongside Hunk, as the support for the team, upon landing; the formation of Voltron broke and they were all transported back to their respective Lions, Lance felt a tinge of sadness but immediately swished it away-his friends weren't going anywhere and they would form Voltron a hundred and more times over the course of the next few years. Lance grinned happily at the faces of the other paladins as they arrived back to the castle before removing his sticky helmet, he was drenched in sweat. He heard Allura and Coran’s congratulations as the rest of the paladins talked over each other in amazement asking questions like _’did you see that?’ ‘that was amazing!’ ‘how did we do it?!’._

Lance unmounted his Lion and jogged to reach his teammates, who were standing together. Lance bumped them all into a group and wrapped his arms around them in a tight hug. His arms didn't reach around them completely but that didn't matter, he just wanted to be close to them.

The four other paladins stood in shocked silence before they all slowly returned Lance's hug, some more eager than others (Hunk, and possibly Keith but that could’ve just been wishful thinking).

Lance looked up from the floor and smiled fondly at the group as they hesitantly offered their own smiles. God, they were so awkward when they were young. Shiro didn't really know anyone but Keith. Hunk and Lance had known each other since they were kids, and Pidge had a loose connection to Shiro through her brother and father and had known Hunk and Lance for only a year. Lance grinned and pat each of them on the back, his hand lingering on Keith's shoulder a little longer than could be considered necessary.

Allura called their attention and Lance turned his gaze to her, she still didn't meet his eye and Lance was a little upset knowing that their relationship was developing differently this time but he reminded himself that he did the right thing, he told her what she needed to hear and she may not understand now but she would.

Lance drowned out the "Defenders of the Universe" speech-he'd heard enough times already and instead turned his attention to the fallen Galra ship in the distance. Sendak and some sentries were still alive out there and would be coming after the Lions soon. The problem was: Lance didn't remember much about what happened, nobody had ever filled him in on the details so he only had the general overview of who did what. But he did know that his life threatening injuries had led Hunk to the Balmera and in turn to Shay so he had to figure out exactly how he was going to do this when he barely knew what happened.

This was going to be a bit of an issue.

XxX

Lance had been so busy mulling his possible alternatives the whole night he didn't get any sleep and so was startled out of bed when he heard the castle's alarm system and immediately sprinted toward the castle's main control room. Lance had gotten into the habit of finding out what the situation was before suiting up, sometimes all paladins were needed and sometimes they weren't. Sometimes the "emergency' wasn't so much an emergency as it was Allura keeping them on their toes or alerting them of a suspicious situation. When Lance arrived, it was the former.

Lance had arrived at the same time as Hunk who was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as they approached an unhappy Allura. Shiro was standing tensely in front of Lance, a slight breathless appearance and a sheet of sweat lightly glistening on his forehead. Lance frowned, suddenly suspicious, was Shiro working out the entire night? That wasn't good. If Shiro worked himself to exhaustion and didn't rest the damage to his body later on would be irreversible, and Lance would know. Lance opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Hunk who began rapidly  pointing out the events of the past few days and asking several questions regarding the situation. Allura immediately redirected the conversation to "Voltron" this and that and learning to form Voltron before commanding them to their hangers where they would reunite with their Lions and spend the day struggling to figure out how to form Voltron. Or they would be if Lance wasn't there but now that he had a better grasp than any of them, forming Voltron wouldn’t be as much of an issue because now he wouldn’t be actively competing against Keith and they could all cooperate with each other. Lance was confident that forming Voltron would be much smoother this time around.

XxX

Lance was wrong.

Each of the paladins were just barely beginning to form a bond with each other so while individually they may be fine, coming together and actually _working together_ was the bigger issue. Lance tried to compensate by trying to interact with them more, but that didn't’ work since they saw it as a “distraction” and...well okay that was fair, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to ask Shiro about his workout routine while he was trying to fly without any visuals (that ended with Shiro crashing into a mountain, but he seemed to get over it when Lance immediately apologized).

Defense training was a disaster, not caused by lack of teamwork, but moreso on the _inexperience_ part. Lance had been attempting to protect Shiro and Keith to the best of his ability from the small bots, but he had become too accustomed to their old fighting styles and had left his entire right side open, which led to Keith jumping in front of the shot and from there it had just spiraled down hill.

Attempting to mind meld hadn’t gone much better either, Lance wasn’t worried about them “discovering the truth” since the headbands only opened someone’s mind enough to allow someone to see their surface thoughts and get an idea of what kind of person they were (otherwise they would’ve been used to interrogate POW back during his paladin days). The headbands weren’t capable of spilling out everyone’s dirty little secrets or else Lance would’ve had a hard time trying to explain why he was thinking of an older Keith, doodling with their granddaughter.(Keith claimed he didn’t have favorites but it was pretty obvious to everyone which of his grandchildren/nieces and nephews he preferred.) The memory made Lance’s heart ache and he immediately thought back to his own family on Earth before the memory had a chance to surface and be viewed by everyone.

The session was ended by Pidge, whose focus kept being broken by their mixed feelings about Matt and their frustration at not finding him. Lance wanted to comfort them but knew his words wouldn’t be appreciated until they became better friends. But shit really started flying when the invisible maze and gladiator came up. Lance had been waiting for some sign that things were different this time around and apparently it came in the form of Allura increasing the difficulty of their training session. (Privately Lance wondered if Allura was doing this to get back at him but dismissed the thought since Allura wasn’t that petty...probably.)

First and foremost Allura had ordered Coran to increase the voltage on the invisible maze and having experienced its effects first-hand, hundreds of times, Lance could honestly say he was worried for their safety.

XxX

"It doesn't hurt, right?" Hunk asked hesitantly.

"Oh yes. It hurts an extraordinary amount. Without your armor you would likely lose feeling in the entire half of your body." Coran said seriously before smiling brightly and cheering a happy "Good Luck!"

Hunk's face had gone pale and he immediately turned to the other equally scared paladins.

"Not it!" He shrieked desperately. Shiro and Pidge quickly followed, leaving a confused Keith and a slightly terrified Lance to be the guinea pigs. Lance whipped around to face Keith and chuckled nervously.

"Keith, my sun and stars, my sky and moon, you-y-you wouldn't let me get hurt right?" Lance asked carefully, Lance loved the man with all his heart but he was horrible with directions and even after years of marriage Keith was still unpredictable so there was no telling what the current Keith would do. Keith turned his wide, confused eyes to him, a slight furrow in his brows.

“What are you talking about? You’ll be fine. And you need to experience pain in order to learn.”

Oh sweet Mary and Joseph- Lance was going to die.

XxX

Lance didn’t die but the right side of his body was still vibrating from the shock of the maze. Keith had apologized profusely but Lance waved it off with a pained grin-this is why Keith never directed missions, his sense of placement was utter shit.

The gladiator, Lance was NOT looking forward to, on his own Lance had managed to beat all 100 simulated levels, but being injured and in a team that really didn’t understand who they were yet complicated things. Plus Lance was a long-range fighter, so was Hunk. But Shiro, Pidge, and Keith were all short-range. Where Lance and Hunk were supposed to attack from a distance, tiring out the enemy and cutting their numbers, the three would then sweep in and get rid of any extras. It was a simple strategy that involved each of them waiting for their cues-and it was not the tactic they used when the gladiator emerged. Everyone immediately tried to do their own thing, taking turns rather than working together. Lance was struggling to dodge stray plasma bullets from Hunk’s cannon and attempting to get his gun into a good position, but his shaky right hand was making it difficult to pull the trigger. Lance was ambidextrous so he could easily switch sides, but then his right hand would shake the gun and he wouldn't get a steady shot. Keith had just been tossed away by the gladiator and it was now charging at a frozen Shiro, but Lance refused to let that happen.

“Hunk! Quick, aim for it’s knees!” Lance yelled to a rising Hunk, who unsteadily hefted his gun and began shooting at the floor by the gladiator’s legs. A few the shots actually landed and the gladiator stumbled. Pidge, seeing an opportunity, knocked the staff out of the gladiator’s hands and backed away when it lashed out at them. Keith shot up from his spot on the ground and raced toward the fallen gladiator, lifting his sword, and letting out a shout as he sliced through the gladiator’s torso, watching it explode in a magnificent show of electric blue. Keith slowly approached a still frozen Shiro and hesitantly called out to him. The sound of the training deck doors opening had them all turning to face Allura who marched in with a neutral expression, the look didn’t sit well with Lance.

“The five of you need to be able to work together or else you’ll never form Voltron!” She scolded loudly. Hunk, Pidge, and Keith who had been satisfied with their performance immediately protested.

“Hey! I don’t know if you were watching but did you see us out there? We beat the gladiator and we did it together!” Keith pointed out.

“No, you _three_ defeated the gladiator. Neither Shiro or Lance physically fought it so it can’t be called a collective team effort.” She argued.

“That’s not true, Shiro was a distraction, Lance gave me an opening, which gave Pidge one, then Keith. We wouldn’t have won if we didn’t each play a part.” Hunk said. Allura shook her head.

“That’s not teamwork that’s just you backpacking off each other’s actions which just so happened to result in a victory, you can’t do this in an actual battle, it’s too risky.”

Lance agreed, what they did wasn’t teamwork it was just his desperate attempt to stop Shiro from getting hurt while he was incapacitated by an unwanted memory. Lance wanted the team to do well, desperately. But they weren’t progressing. They needed to get on the same level and acknowledge that they were all working towards the same end goal- Shiro was plagued by his memories and was just getting used to his newfound freedom, both Keith and Pidge were the most prideful out of all of them and didn’t like admitting that they needed help, Hunk was terrified and uncertain about the situation, and Lance...Lance just wanted them all to be okay at the end of the day. All five were functioning on different wavelengths and they needed to get their ducks in a row or they’d be scrambling to survive Sendak’s second wave because Lance truly didn’t know what to do and he was running out of time. Distantly, Lance heard Coran announce that they’d be taking a break for dinner before trying to form Voltron again. Lance slumped his shoulders and released his bayard from it’s blaster fom and followed the others out the door, Keith lingered at the back of the group and Lance sped up slightly to catch up and walk beside him.

“You did really well out there,” Lance complimented. Keith turned a light pink and looked sheepishly at a smiling Lance.

“Y-You too,I wouldn’t have gotten an opening if you didn’t tell Hunk to aim for the legs,” he muttered, trailing off awkwardly. Lance gave a light laugh, Keith hadn’t had trouble speaking to him in years and Lance could appreciate the rare treat of a flustered Keith Kogane. Lance lightly punched Keith’s shoulder to get him to look at him and offered a mischievous grin and quick “race ya!” before bolting to the front of the group. Lance heard a quick curse behind him before the sound of pounding footsteps followed him into the dining room. Lance laughed as he reached the table and turned to face a grinning Keith. The others slowly trickled in after them and sat in the provided chairs, Keith immediately took the seat to Lance’s right and Lance smiled happily at him. The look was wiped away upon Coran activating cuffs hidden underneath the table.

Of course, how could he have forgotten the spark that moved them to form Voltron. Lance glanced at his stunned neighbors and let out a sigh of exhaustion, he really was too old for this.

XxX

Good news: The team could now form Voltron and established the foundation to their bond as paladins.

Bad news: Sendak was approaching the castle and in a day or two Lance either had to have an ace plan or had to let himself get blown up and hope he didn’t die.

More Bad news: A huge monster made by that w(b)itch Haggar would also arrive soon and Lance hoped that nothing would go wrong there. His team was progressing, maybe they weren’t at hero level yet, but they were getting there.

And there was some more Good news to balance out the bad: Keith and him were talking more often.

The two had their rooms directly next to each other and often walked to breakfast together, making simple conversation such as if the other person slept well and how their independent training was going. Maybe it wasn’t as close or as personal as Lance would've liked but honestly Lance was just happy that Keith was _there._ Lance had more than once seen Hunk’s confused gaze on them and was suddenly reminded that as far as Hunk knew, Lance hated Keith. Lance reminded himself to clear that up before the situation could become misunderstood as it inevitably would- Lance refused to let his love life become some cliche soap opera from the early 2000s. Keith was worth at least _María la del Barrio_ level drama.

Lance easily slipped into a routine with the rest of the paladins-train forming Voltron in the morning, come back to the Castle to recharge, and then spend every other evening on the training deck to sharpen combat skills. Individual bayard training was encouraged but not enforced.

For the most part the morning had gone well-they formed Voltron, stumbled a bit, but they were starting to get the hang of it. It was during lunch that disaster was being set into motion. Pidge insisted on spending every free moment waiting for the rescued Galra prisoners to awaken and Shiro spent his time there as often as he could as well. Which only left Hunk, Lance, and Keith to meet the Arusians when the Castle’s alarm system warned them of an approaching intruder. Lance watched as the small Arusian, charged at the Castle, holding a weapon and ducking behind the occasional rock and bush. His name was Klaizap if Lance’s memory served him right.

Keith was tense beside him and Lance almost laughed out loud-Keith always took everything too seriously, seeing threats were there were none. But those instincts had saved his life on occasion and that was the sole reason Lance didn’t giggle out loud. Allura turned to the three of them and insisted on welcoming the Arusian. Allura wasn’t giving him the cold shoulder anymore, or glaring at his head when he turned around, but she wasn’t exactly jumping for the chance to talk to him either. Lance quickly agreed and gripped Keith’s hand, dragging him along and ignoring his protests that the Arusian could be “dangerous”.

Lance silently watched as Allura interacted with Klaizap and walked without a word as he led them to the Arusian village. Haggar’s monster would be arriving soon and Lance made a point of making sure the Arusians were grouped together and by the cave system where they took refuge with Allura the first time. No one got hurt the first time but he wasn’t taking an chances.

An earth shattering _‘boom’_ sounded in the distance and Lance recognized it as the sound of a high speed projectile breaking through a planet's atmosphere. Lance whipped around and, in the distance, caught the sight of a large Galra vessel heading for the same location the wreckage of Sendak’s ship landed. The thought that perhaps the wreckage of the ship somehow had a beacon that led the monster to the location crossed his mind but it was immediately dismissed by the fact that no matter how it got here it was _here_ and he needed to get to Blue. A little ways away Keith was dragging a squirming Hunk and together the three of them raced back to the castle where their Lions flew out to meet them. The three met up with Shiro and Pidge and flew together in formation. Lance recognized the monster as one of the easier one’s to beat, although they struggled a bit Lance was confident that they would beat.

XxX

The team was having a hard time fighting the monster. They’d only practiced being in Voltron a few times and Lance was willing to admit his head wasn’t in the fight.

Nervousness had been squirming around in his gut at the thought of what would happen afterwards and the thought that he would somehow mess things up and throw off the timeline in some major way (which didn’t make sense since he had already thrown things off by _existing_ ). A jolt to Voltron brought his mind back to the present and he registered the need to quickly step out of the way.

Shiro was shouting orders of needing a shield and holding out for a little longer before they could attack. Lance knew the battle would be drawing to a close soon, he could feel Red’s anticipation at forming a tighter bond with her paladin-she had always been the most emotionally vibrant Lion. Even though Red wasn’t his, his close bond to the previous Keith and the present Keith allowed him some insight into how she felt and now he could tell she was squirming with excitement of the thought of summoning her fire sword. Lance allowed slight smile to grace his features as Keith exclaimed that his Lion knew what to do. Lance felt the air of Voltron shift as it accommodated the formation of Red’s fire sword. Lance switched gears to mimic Hunk who had activated his boosters to push Voltron forward. Lance felt a rush of exhilaration at the destruction of Haggar’s beast, but it was quickly overshadowed by what he knew was coming next.

XxX

Honestly speaking, the Arusians were Lance’s favorite alien race. And it wasn’t because they were one of the first alien races that Lance had met but because they were a mostly chill people, they liked having fun and partying and overall really had no underlying intentions like many of the other politically savvy races he ended up at a negotiating table with.

Plus they were a decent distraction for him while he hyped himself up to go the control room and allow himself to almost die. He had contemplated simply allowing the room to be destroyed without anyone in it-they’d need the crystal anyway since it powered the castle and not just the healing pods. But Hunk needed that desperate motivation, up until that point Hunk had been content with skiing carefully along and not making any big risks. The looming death of his friend if he didn’t get into gear was what pushed Hunk into taking his role as a paladin more seriously, along with his first hand witnessing of the treatment of non-Galrans under Zarkon.

Lance knew it was a dick move, he knew that scaring your best friend into motivation was something that only the worst sort of people pulled but Lance had _no choice_ . He’s been turning himself inside out from _day one_ trying to figure _how_ and _when_ he was going to get his “big” plan to work when really Lance didn’t know what he was doing. He had a better idea on certain aspects of what to do than others and this was not one of those.

“Hey.” Keith greeted, interrupting his thoughts.

Lance flinched in surprise and turned around to face an anxious looking Keith, Lance gripped his cup filled with nunville tighter.

“Hey yourself,” He muttered lowly attempting a smirk that he knew probably came out like a grimace. Keith smiled awkwardly, the apples of his cheeks turning a dusty pink, Lance resisted the urge to coo, knowing if he did Keith would likely lash out.

“What, um, w-what are you thinking about?” Keith asked quietly, his face growing a deeper red as he spoke.

Lance could feel the nervousness rolling off him in waves and  took a light sip of the nunville and managed not to grimace at the taste, after years of ingesting it, the drink went from less ‘hot dog water’ to more of a ‘brine from a jar of black olives’ flavor, which Lance appreciated a little more-he loved olives.

“Nothing much, just home ya’ know?” Lance replied. Lance knew that Keith had very few fond memories of Earth but he couldn’t think of anything else to say considering he was treading a thin line between throwing up and not throwing up out of nerves. Keith nodded and made a silent ‘oh’ sound and looked down at his own cup of nunville. Keith shifted from foot to foot and immediately reminded Lance of a nervous first grader.

“I-I u-um came over here because I wanted to um tell you something,” he trailed off. Keith looked like he was struggling to speak and Lance took pity on him and leaned in closer in order to pat him on the back.

“Take all the time you need my darling, there’s no rush.” Lance said sweetly. Lance would always make time for Keith,even if he had to go blow himself up in a few minutes.

Keith nodded tensely and his shoulders shook so rapidly  that Lance wondered if it was too cold.

“I-I l-like-,” he paused and took a shaky breath, “-l-like..the way you fight…” he finished lamely.

Lance had been hoping for a different kind of confession but he would take what he could get. Lance grinned widely and wrapped his arms around a frozen Keith, gently rubbing his cheek against Keith’s warm one.

“Thanks my dude, you fight good too!” He exclaimed backing away from a still frozen Keith. Keith made a choking sound and nodded quickly before backing away and heading to the stairs of the castle. As he left Lance could hear him muttering to himself, “What were you thinking….idiot.. just..him.” Lace really hoped that Keith wasn’t referring to him, he thought they were becoming really close.

Lance released a sigh and looked around the room for Rover. Fake Rover would be making an appearance soon and Lance wanted to make sure it didn’t slip by him. A commotion by the entrance of the castle caught his attention. Hunk, Shiro, and Allura were gathered around Pidge who was holding a- was that their backpack? Lance rushed forward, not liking the look of the situation.

“What’s going on?” Lance asked uncertainly. The other turned to him but didn’t say anything.

“Guys?” Lance asked slightly urgent. Pidge looked away from him before responding.

“I’m leaving the team.”

What.

“What?” He asked, shocked. Nobody mentioned this before, was this a new development? He didn’t remember this happening.

“B-but what about the Universe? Voltron? Your Lion?” Lance asked in a frenzy, this couldn’t be happening. Pidge refused to meet his eyes.

“I found some information on my family so I’m going to go look for them.” they responded simply.

“By yourself?” Lance asked incredulous.

“Pidge! These Galra guys are dangerous! And you’re barely trained what are you going to do against a bunch of fighters, soldiers, battlecruisers? You can’t possibly leave on your own!” Lance exclaimed. Pidge’s shoulders tensed and Lance backed away on instinct.

“Well what am I supposed to do!? They’re out there and I might be able to save them! I can’t just not take this chance!” They screamed as they turned around to face Lance. There was pain in their eyes but Lance wasn’t going to let Pidge leave, it was a suicide mission.

“What will you do if you get caught while busting them out of prison? What if you’re outnumbered, outsmarted, outmaneuvered?” Lance interrogated as Pidge made to leave. His words stopped them and Lance could see that they hated how logical his argument was.

“I’ll figure it out. I’m smart.” They stated simply and continued walking away.

“You’re just one person Pidge! Why can’t you let us help you?!” Lance called after them in frustration. Immediately following his words a blast rocked the castle and Lance froze in shock. _No._

The Arusians began screaming in panic and stampeding out of the castle. Lance turned around and began scanning for Coran in thr panicked crowd. He had only been in the control room because of Lance the last time but he may have headed there for whatever reason anyway. Lance couldn’t find the familiar ginger hair and immediately began sprinting for the stairs and running in the direction of the control center, Lance heard the footsteps of his fellow paladins and Allura behind him but paid them no mind. Lance could see the dust thrown up by the explosion was beginning to clear just as he arrived, Coran was on the floor by the entrance and was just beginning to rise up, he appeared uninjured and Lance breathed a sigh of relief. Lance reached Coran and was about to offer him a hand to stand up when he caught a glimpse of red in the corner of his eye. Lance went stone still and slowly approached the wreckage, bypassing Coran who also turned to face the destruction. The dust finally cleared enough for Lance to see and Lance swore his heart stopped-a body was lying on the floor, parts of their armour was shattered, stains of blood splattered on the floor.

“Keith.” Lance breathed in shock. His limbs felt like lead and his legs wouldn’t move. _Keith. Keith. Keith. Keith. Keith._

“KEITH!” Lance shrieked and raced forward, sliding to his knees as he reached him. Lance hovered his hands over Keith uncertainly, he didn't want to touch him, what if he made it worse somehow? Lance felt Shiro rush up behind him, equally as distraught. Shiro knelt down by Keith’s other side and gently cradled his head.

“Keith, buddy, can you hear me?” He asked. Keith let out a barely audible moan and Lance could’ve wept in joy. _He wasn’t dead, He wasn't dead!_

“We need to get him to a healing pod now!” Lance shouted as he began reaching for Keith.

“We can’t! The crystal that powers the castle has been destroyed!” Allura exclaimed.

Lance’s heart stopped for the second time that night. _How? How could he have forgotten?_

Lance was supposed to be here, not Keith. It was Lance’s fault that Keith was dying. All he had to do was let himself get blown up a little but now because he wasn’t there Keith had taken his place.

Lance heard the others begin making plans to defend the castle while Hunk and Coran went to get a new crystal. But Lance couldn’t move, he was still frozen, his hands hovering over Keith’s mangled body. _'This is your fault,'_ he thought viciously to himself.

The Arusian King bounded in and began yelling about their village being attacked and Lance wanted to scream-could this day get any worse!?

“Lance come with me!” Allura ordered as she began following the Arusian King. Lance let a sound of protest.

“I can’t leave Keith! He’s hurt!” Lance yelled at her back. Allura turned to face him, her eyes blazing in way Lance had never seen.

“You are a paladin of Voltron, your _duty_ is to defend the Universe and it’s people.” She stated acidly. Lance wavered uncertainly, looking down at Keith whose face was creased in pain. He looked up at Shiro who shared his concerned expression.

“Take care of him.” Lance begged as he rose and turned to follow Allura.

Leaving Keith when he was in such a state was the hardest thing Lance ever had to do.

XxX

It was a ruse. The attack on the Arusian village was a ruse. And Lance was going to fucking murder Sendak.

Upon making the discovery Lance immediately instructed the Arusians to begin putting out the fires upon informing them that the sentries were fakes. Allura was by his side as Lance raced back to the castle. The two of them were at least a hundred feet away when a purple particle barrier began lowering.

“NO!”” Lance screamed as he rushed to enter before the barrier lowered. But he didn't make it. He was too slow. He was _always_ too slow.

Lance began punching the barrier with all his might, kicking, and screaming threats that Sendak couldn’t hear. Allura reached his side and gripped his shoulder tightly.

“Stop. You’re going to hurt yourself.” She demanded in her usual distant manner. Lance slapped her hand away and turned to face her. His hands were shaking, his heart was beating fiercely in his chest, and Lance felt hot, angry tears rolling down his cheeks, his face was twisted in _agony_.

 _“Why can’t I do anything right?”_ He cried, begging for an answer but not expecting one. Allura appeared too shocked by his expression and words to say anything, watching him with wide, stunned eyes. Lance turned back to the barrier and began pushing against it, hoping, _praying_ that it would just give. It didn’t.

Lance banged his fist against the barrier.

“Please,” He begged his tears coming faster, “Please!Please!Please! _Please!please!please!please!_ ” He banged on the barrier, Allura didn’t try to stop him.

“I can't, I CAN’T LOSE HIM _AGAIN_!” Lance bellowed, clawing against the barrier in renewed desperation. His pleas went unanswered and Lance cried in despair. The entire time Allura stood by his side ,silently, wanting to comfort him but not knowing how. She hesitantly approached his shaking body and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug.

“Please stop crying.” She asked softly, Allura could see that Lance was in pain and sure, he may have said something that angered her, but he was still her paladin, her was still her friend. And her friend was suffering.

Lance’s body was wracked with sobs as his breathing got steadily out of control.

“I-I-I couldn’t protect him,” He choked out. “This is all _my fault._ " He whispered. Allura didn’t get a chance to ask what he meant by that since her earrings alerted her of Pidge attempting to communicate with her.

“Pidge!” She exclaimed. Lance froze under her and whipped around to face her. He listened silently as she conversed with Pidge on how to take down the particle barrier. Pidge set out on her task, leaving Allura and Lance to sit in silence for awhile. Allura said nothing as Lance wiped away his remaining tears and sniffled.

“You really care about Keith.” She observed, she hadn’t known the paladins for long and still had a lot to learn about their relationship with each other. Lance nodded.

“Yeah. I love him.” He responded simply. Allura nodded and didn’t really register the words, but when she did she immediately went still. _Love?_ She thought to herself. Her mind went back to all the interactions she had witnessed between them. Teasing each other during meals, helping the other up after training, always standing closer than what could be considered socially acceptable, seeming happy and content when the other was nearby.

 _Yeah_ , she thought to herself smiling slightly. _That sounds like love._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you were wondering Keith and Coran were in the control room because keith was literally about to punch himself in the face for not going through with his confession. Coran offered relationship advice and keith was about to head down to woo lance before he got caught in the explosion (D: prayer circle for keith's failed confession)


	6. in which lance is a b.a.b

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lance resists murdering sendak and parts of lance's plan start to come to light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whew. i knocked this chapter out in two days, i was suddenly struck by inspiration and blam instant chapter which i've been struggling to put write down for the last few days.

Lance waited impatiently in front of the particle barrier often pacing and checking to see if the barrier had weakened.

It hadn't.

But that didn't stop him from doing the same thing a few minutes later. Lance was a pretty patient person (he had to be or else he and Keith wouldn't have lasted three months while dating) but Lance couldn't help but squirm in discomfort every passing second.  Keith was in there with an out of commission Shiro and Pidge who had gone radio silent ten minutes ago.

Allura had tried getting Lance into a conversation in order to distract him, but Lance couldn't focus, Keith was lying beyond the barrier-hurt and in pain and there was literally nothing Lance could do to help! Things weren't supposed to turn out this way, Lance was expecting the physical burden of pain tonight, but standing around helplessly while the love of his life was in danger hurt more than any attack from the Galra ever would.

"Lance look!" Allura exclaimed, Lance quickly whipped his head around and watched, in relief, as the purple particle barrier began lowering. Lance turned on his heel and began running in the direction of the castle before the barrier could lower itself again, calling out to Allura to follow him.

The halls of the castle were empty, no sentry patrols or stray Galra wandering around, he supposes they had Pidge thank for that.

"So what’s  the plan? Do we have any way of restraining Sendak?" Lance asked as they both climbed the stairs up from the entrance way to reach the command center. Allura came up beside him and began to clearly explain.

"By the command center, where the steering of the castle is, a smaller particle barrier can be erected it was mainly used to protect the pilot of the castle but can also double as a temporary prison."

Lance nodded and made to turn the corner that would lead them to the others. Once Allura joined him in the turn, both of them caught sight of Sendak holding a struggling Pidge in his Galra arm. Lance stopped moving.

"Don't come any closer." Sendak warned as he gripped Pidge in their mechanic arm. Pidge let out a yelp of pain and Lance felt something in him snap.

"Get your filthy hands off MY FRIENDS!" Lance shrieked as he summoned his bayard and fired multiple shots, aiming for Sendak's elbows, knees, and chest. Sendak let out a yell of pain and dropped Pidge who scrambled away and shot their bayard hook at him with the intent of electrocuting him, Sendak dodged but almost immediately fell backwards. Lance glanced at Shiro and Keith's prone positions and felt his heart sag in relief at the sight of a smugly grinning Keith, sticking out his leg to trip Sendak.

"Nice job gorgeous!" Lance praised as he charged at Sendak, making sure to remain behind Pidge to act as support and stop any attacks toward her person. Shiro crept behind Sendak and aimed a kick to his spine, Sendak turned around and caught his leg, then quickly spun back around in order to knock Pidge away using Shiro's body like some sort of human-baseball bat.

Lance lifted his rifle and fired a shot at Sendak's hand, making sure to not hit Shiro's ankle. The shot connected and Sendak dropped Shiro on his head. Sendak yelled in anger and Lance immediately fired at his face, Sendak grunted in rage, backing away and cupping his hands over his plasma burned features. Lance fired several more, aiming at the Galra's joints so he would fall by the steering of the ship. Sendak collapsed with a final huff of effort and remained motionless on the floor.

Lance's shots had been powered down in order to burn and stun, not to kill. Lance had been reluctant to do it but Allura had insisted that Sendak was more valuable alive, he was after all one of Zarkon's most trusted generals.

Allura powered up the protective shield by the steering deck to act as a temporary  prison until Sendak could be transferred below deck.

Lance stared down at Sendak's prone form and felt a bubble of anger still toiling away at him, he forced himself to turn away and instead focus and tend to his injured teammates. Shiro was slightly disoriented but Lance helped him sit up and left Pidge with him to free him from his cuffs.

Lance knelt by Keith's side and carefully slipped a hand under his neck to support him from any possible concussion. Keith's eyes appeared glazed and Lance worried that the damage had been greater than he realized but the bleary smile Keith offered him wiped away any overwhelming worry he had.

"Gosh mullet, you're going to drive me to an early grave with the stress you cause me." Lance sighed as he slipped his free hand under Keith's torso and gently lifted him onto his lap. Keith was smiling too happily for Lance's comfort considering his nose just started bleeding. Lance gripped the sleeve of his armor and carefully wiped away the flow of blood. Keith's face scrunched in unease and Lance whispered comforts in his ear as he stroked his hair.

"Hunk will be back soon, don't worry my little cryptid fanatic." Lance soothed. Keith grunted slightly and turned his head to gaze up at Lance who was smiling gently down at him. Lance's smile became strained as he looked over the injuries littering his lover's body.

"I'm sorry," he whispered brokenly as he felt the sting of tears in his eyes. Keith grunted to gain his attention and Lance looked down to see Keith frowning up at him.

"Wasn yu falt," he said slurring his words terribly. Lance gently cupped Keith's cheek and forced him to open his mouth. He had bitten his tongue, there was blood coating the interior of his mouth. Lance unconsciously gripped Keith's chin harder. Keith whined and Lance let go, murmuring an apology and gently kissing Keith's cheek which he positively beamed at.

Lance chuckled lightly at the adorable sight, Keith thrived under attention- soft kisses, praises, hugs. He was a lot like Lance in that sense, and Lance hated to think about it, but Keith had alluded to it being because of his neglectful childhood spent traveling from foster home to foster home.

"We mak prtty goode tem." Keith gurgled up at him. Lance grinned and nuzzled Keith who looked pretty happy for a guy who was bleeding out.

"Yeah," Lance agreed, "we really do."

XxX

"Will you stop pacing already?" Pidge demanded as Lance anxiously marched back and forth in front of Keith's pod.

"Yeah, I've never seen you this worked up about something. Especially about  Keith, I thought you hated the guy?" Hunk pointed out. Lance stopped pacing and turned to face his curious audience, he felt his face flush slightly in embarrassment.

"I don't hate Keith! I...just-just." Lance stumbled, his face turning a deeper shade of scarlet. Hunk stared  at him with large, confused eyes before he started smiling dangerously-the same way he did when he got to gloat about being right (Lance was on the receiving end of that look more times than he'd like to admit.)

"Ohhhhhhh," he said teasingly.

"Stop." Lance demanded.

"I get it noooowww."

"Cut it out!"

"The reason you used to stare at Keith all the time back at the Garrison-"

"No!"

"-find an excuse to talk to him,-"

"I'm warning you Hunk!"

"-"accidently" run into him at the showers and the bathroom." Hunk said as he skipped in front of Lance and leaned in close with a cheesy grin on his face.

"You had a cwuuuuuushhhhhh!" He said in a baby voice. Lance pushed his face away- he was caught between a rock and a hard place, he couldn't deny he liked Keith, but his feelings didn't go as far back as the Garrison. Did they?

"Lance and Keith sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!-" Hunk sang.

"Don't start!" Lance yelled

"-First comes love! Then comes marriage!-" Pidge joined in.

“Guys!”

"-Then comes a baby in a baby carriage!"

Shiro sang, grinning deviously. Lance gaped at the betrayal

"You guys are the worst, I thought you were my friends!" Lance whined as the three laughed at him. Allura was confused and Coran was smiling happily but Lance assumed that he was just as confused as well. Lance was about to dramatically complain but a mechanical 'sigh' caught his attention. Lance turned around in time to see Keith stumble out of the healing pod.

"Keith!" Lance called in happiness, choosing to ignore the kissing noises that Pidge was making behind him.

Keith looked sleepy and exhausted, hunching over and grunting when Lance wrapped him in a hug. Keith gasped harshly in his ear before slowing his breathing and relaxing in Lance's arms. He rested his hands lightly on Lance's hips, gripping them slightly when Lance clung to him like a koala.

"What happened?" He asked them, tilting his head in pure confusion.

"We can tell you while you get something to eat. Are you able to walk?" Allura asked, smiling as she came up beside the hugging boys. Keith scrunched his face in concentration and slowly straightened his back, forcing Lance to let go.

"Yeah," he stated and took a shaky step forward, Lance hovered nearby in case he needed help. Lance also choose to ignore the teasing looks and smiles shot at him from the other members of Voltron as he worriedly followed Keith down the halls and into the dining area.

XxX

The mice scurried back and forth between the front of Keith's bowl of food goo, waiting for scraps. But Keith paid them no mind as he shoveled food into his mouth, barely taking a breath in between bites. Lance poked Keith in the cheek in order to get his attention.

The other boy turned his head to him in befuddlement.

"Don't eat so quickly, you'll give yourself hiccups." Lance softly scolded( he knew this from experience and nearly getting skewered when Keith took offense to him making fun of his baby hiccups).  Keith scoffed and Lance sighed at the reminder that young Keith had always been difficult.

"What are you my mothe- _hiccup_." Keith looked startled at the sudden sound and immediately scowled, filling his cheeks with air and holding his breath in an effort to get rid of them as the others laughed around him.

Lance didn’t laugh, but he was grinning down at Keith who may or may not may have been turning red from anger or lack of oxygen.

“Keith, you need to breath, honey.” Lance pointed out.

Keith’s mouth remained closed.

Lance groaned and reached out with both his hands, putting one on each cheek and pushing down to expel the air from his cheeks with a soft sound. Lance quickly pulled both hands away and hopped off the table to get a safe distance away if Keith decide to hurt him. Keith didn’t come after him but did throw his spoon at him. Lance giggled and bounced away to hide by Shiro while Keith calmed down.

Lance smiled at the back of Keith’s head as he started dumping the remaining goo into his mouth (much to the distress of the mice).

 _‘I missed this’._ He thought to himself wistfully.

XxX

“Awwww does Hunky Wunky have a wittle cwush?” Lance asked as Hunk’s anticipation to see Shay shone through. The others thought he was probably just trying to get back at Hunk for what happened while waiting on Keith’s healing pod but really, Lance was trying to keep his mind off seeing Shay again.

His Hunk had been so devastated at her abrupt death, all Balmeran’s became part of the Balmera once again after their end so Hunk didn’t even have a body to mourn over, only memories and comforting their children who didn’t understand why their mother wasn’t coming back. Lance always hid his pain behind smiles and jokes, he did it to everyone, even to Keith. And Shay had been like a sister, just as Hunk was his brother; and it hurt him _so much_ to see his loved ones in pain.

 _‘We can make it not hurt as much.’_ he thought to himself. Lance had paid special attention to planning  future interactions with Shay, Hunk had always beat himself up over not speaking to Shay enough while they were still young. But unknown to him the Alteans developed a long distance form of communication that reminded Lance of that retro form of communication from the 2000s called ‘skype’. If Lance could drop a hint to Coran, who was a romantic at heart, then it’s entirely possible that Hunk would spend every available moment talking to Shay. it would probably stop being cute after the first eight hours, but that was a risk Lance was all too happy to take.

The sudden blaring of the alarms brought the team out of teasing Hunk and to the front of the ship where Coran informed them of a distress beacon on a moon nearby.

 _‘Nyma and Rolo’_ Lance thought in realization. The two were smugglers, just small fries in the intergalactic black market but that wasn’t what mattered to Lance. What mattered was the connections the two had, and how at heart the two of them were good people, they were just corrupted and forced into doing things they normally wouldn’t for the sake of survival.

Lance had met up with them further down the road, after Zarkon’s influence had stopped spreading to every corner of the galaxy. The two of them had been key players in liberating and infiltrating slave facilities and colonies and Lance knew that if he played his cards right they could start doing it again sooner.

“Well what are we waiting for?” Lance asked, grinning as Allura began the descent to the moon.

XxX

Lance hadn’t noticed it the first time around, but Nyma’s eyes pretty much sparkled in deceit, but in Lance’s years of knowing her he knew for a fact that she was a shit liar- a great actress, but Rolo mainly did the talking. Lance stepped up to greet both of them happily, shaking both their hands in excitement. He could tell by the look in their eyes that they immediately singled him out to be easier to manipulate. Being too friendly upon first meeting usually signified weakness in their experience and Lance wasn’t about to tell them otherwise.  

Nyma sidled up to him while the other paladins introduced themselves and smiled coyly. Lance offered a friendly grin before deliberately heading to sit away from the other paladins, far away enough so neither Rolo or anyone else could hear them. Nyma eagerly followed and sat uncomfortably close to him as he pretended to observe the others, noting the glances that Keith kept shooting in his and Nyma’s direction.

“Soooo,” he began,” Your ship got damaged in a fight with the Galra huh?” He began casually. Nyma hummed in agreement and began reaching for his hand that was resting on his thigh.

“-That’s about the biggest load of bullshit I’ve ever heard.” Lance stated, turning to look at Nyma with what appeared to be a teasing grin. Nyma froze, her hand hovering over Lance’s thigh.

“Really Nyma, I’m kind of disappointed. You and Rolo once managed to smuggle an entire cargo bay’s worth of food out from under a fleet of Zarkon’s ships and this was the best you could come up with? For shame.” Lance whispered as he turned back to look at his friends and Rolo, happily waving to Keith when he caught his eye again.

Nyma didn’t say anything but she released a low pitched chirp that had Rolo’s back tensing from far away. Lance could tell he was itching to turn around and see what was wrong but he simply continued showing the others the main gears of the supposedly damaged ship.

“Don’t worry we’re not with Zarkon or the space police, it’s like Allura said-we’re the good guys.” Lance assured. Nyma didn’t respond, Lance couldn’t blame her- she and Rolo were clever, they’d never been in this situation before.

“But let’s go over some facts shall we? You and Rolo are smugglers-that doesn’t matter to me. What matters is the potential that both of you have in the fight against Zarkon.” Lance stated as he began kicking his legs out in front of him, giving the appearance ,to anyone watching, of a casual conversation.

“You both have connections to the commercial food and supply delivery ships that go in and out of every part of the Galra Empire, Zarkon does after all command the military and soldiers. And soldiers need to eat, so do slaves. Nowadays everything is digitized and Zarkon’s soldiers have grown reckless, they won’t notice slaves going missing, they’ll just assume they died and the Sentries got rid of the bodies like they always do.” Lance said freely.

“So? What do you want from us?” Nyma demanded, the claws on her hand glinting, and Lance tensed slightly before relaxing, knowing that she only does that as a way to show and assert dominance (which she only does when she feels threatened).

“You’re smugglers.” Lance stated simply. They sat in silence for a moment before Nyma gasped in realization.

“You want us to smuggle out the slaves.” She said, shocked.

“I want you to smuggle out the slaves.” Lance agreed.

“Are you insane! Stealing from Zarkon carries a life sentence but freeing slaves is immediate execution! Why would we help you?!” She hissed.

“Your family.”

Nyma choked, surprise and hurt painting her features.

“Rolo’s family.”

Nyma grunted and shifted uncomfortably beside him.

“They’re gone.” She whispered.

“Maybe not.” Lance said gently.

“Zarkon took them from us when we were kids, there’s no way they survived in the camps for that long. Besides...it’s what they deserve.” She said bitterly.

“You don’t mean that Nyma.”

“I do!” She cried lowly. “You can’t stand up to Zarkon! He’s too powerful!”

“And yet you and Rolo have been doing it for years.” Lance pointed out.

“That’s different!”

“No It’s not Nyma. Zarkon is an evil son of a bitch with no regard for life. If we don’t do something about that he’s going to keep doing it and getting away with it Nyma. It’s not going to stop. It’s never going to stop.”

Nyma remained silent and rubbed her clawed hands together, Lance recognized it as an anxious tic.

“How would we even do it?” She asked quietly.

Lance resisted the urge to cheer in happiness.

“Slaves are the one’s who unload all the supplies under the supervision of the Sentires, deliver the messages in the supplies-I guarantee there’s not a single person who would report it. Take in the weak, sick, and older slaves first, they’re the one’s in need of the most assistance. There are several refugee camps hidden throughout the galaxy I’ll hand you their coordinates when he shake goodbye. But I need you to keep a special lookout in the Eurethe work camps in sector VG45-B and in the Grenge mining colony in sector G-3-R09.” Lance reported cooly.

“Why?” Nyma asked curiously, wondering what was so special about those specific places.

“Two Earth humans named Samuel Holt and Matthew Holt are in there somewhere. They are very precious to a friend of mine and I would greatly appreciate it if you could tell me when they have been secured as well as have them immunized.”

“Immunized?” Nyma scoffed. “What are you from some primitive, backwater planet?” She mocked.

 _‘Ahhh there’s the bitchy attitude I missed so much.’_ Lance thought to himself.

“Yes actually. Our deepest space scanners with communication features don’t extend past our solar system.” Lance admitted. Nyma winced beside him.

“Geez…”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed, “on Earth everyone cares more about what’s on the planet rather than what’s off.”

The two sat silently beside one another before the sound of Rolo and Hunk calling them over caught their attention, they both stood and wandered over in a tense silence. Rolo looked over Nyma to make sure she wasn’t hurt before turning a piercing glare to Lance who smiled innocently.

“Our ship is good to go Nye, you ready?” He asked silently signing a question to her. Nyma nodded and waved away the question gesturing for Beezer to board the ship (much to the sadness of Pidge who was still mourning the loss of Rover). Her and Rolo turned to face the group offering final goodbyes. Nyma offered her hand to Lance for a handshake, which he took, using the opportunity to slip her a drive filled with the refugee camp coordinates and his Lion’s contact information that he spent the entire night typing up.

“Goodbye Lance, maybe we’ll meet again.”

Lance smiled at the irony, remembering those exact words being spoken in a different context, in a different life.

“Yeah, maybe” Lance agreed, offering her and Rolo luck on their adventures.

The paladins and Allura watched as their ship rose into the sky and flew away at mind boggling speeds.

“Guess I was wrong about them.” Hunk muttered. Lance smirked and turned to face him, patting him on the back.

“Your instincts are usually right Hunk but I wouldn’t think on it too hard.” Lance assured as he went to stand by Keith who scowled at him.

“Aren’t you going to miss your new girlfriend?” He spit out, a grimace marking his features. Lance stared at him in confusion before making a sound of realization when it hit him that Keith was talking about Nyma. Lance laughed lightly.

“You have nothing to worry about my little gumdrop! She wasn’t my type and you’re my one and only love!” Lance exclaimed moving to pinch Keith’s cheeks. He dodged under Lance’s grabby hands and huffed.

“I wasn’t jealous.” He murmured.

“I didn’t say you were.” Lance said, attempting soothe his ruffled feathers.

Keith frowned at him and marched back to the castle, Lance jogging to keep up with him. Lance smiled, watching Keith as he stomped back to the castle a cloud of rage storming over his head. Once again, angry at Lance.

_‘Just like old times’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you thought regular keith was good, huffy-jealous keith is even better.


	7. doin' the lord's work

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chapter is exactly what the title says it is.

Keith had been purposely turning away from Lance the entire ride to the Balmera. Out of the corner of his eye Lance could see Shiro shooting amused glances at Keith, and Keith who was not amused, flipped Shiro off in the first form of teenage rebellion that Lance had seen him display thus far, except for maybe his mullet-but Lance had grown to love that part of him especially considering Keith had decided to keep it short after part of it was burnt off in battle.

Lance smiled cheekily at a confused Keith when the rest of the paladins began arguing about the sound of Galra weapons, ahhh that social awkwardness that Keith had never truly lost how he missed it. Keith caught his eyes and made a slightly repulsed face at him. Thank god Lance knew that it was just Keith’s form of a resting bitch face or else he may have taken it to heart. Every step that Lance took towards Keith was followed by Keith taking one away from him, a pout/sneer still curling on his lips.

“Awww did you get into a fight with your boyfriend?” Pidge teased Keith as he accidently bumped into them after putting some distance between Lance and him. Keith’s face became hot with embarrassment or anger, even Lance couldn’t tell sometimes.

“HE’S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!” Keith shrieked, his words echoing throughout the control deck. The room became dead silent and Keith awkwardly shifted once he realized all eyes were on him.

“That hurts me Kogane, I thought I had a special place in your heart.” Lance whimpered as he sidled up to a still frozen Keith who tensed at Lance curling himself around his still body. Keith looked down to Lance who was gazing up at him with purposefully shiny eyes. Keith opened his mouth to say something before an alert cut him off and Allura ordered the paladins to get to their Lions.

Lance slowly unwrapped himself from Keith and let his hands linger on Keith’s biceps for a little longer before rushing towards his panel that would lower him to Blue’s hanger, Lance felt Keith’s eyes on him all the way until the panel doors closed. As Lance was lowered into position for the zipline he consistently reminded himself to not feel hurt over Keith’s words, he was right afterall. There was nothing between them. Yet.

XxX

The Balmera looked incredibly unhealthy, Lance had visited several of them, many untouched by the Galra, and none were as sickly as this one. The other’s likely didn’t notice considering this was the first time any of them had seen one and the other Balmerans didn’t know a difference between sick and healthy Balmera considering they had been born and grown up on the former. Lance felt a tight coil of hatred for Zarkon arise. After this mission interrogating Sendak would be priority and there were a few choice words he needed to say as well as information that he needed from that glorified furby.

Lance snapped to attention when he realized the other paladins began to attack the Galra mining facilities. Distractedly, Lance took a backseat as he allowed Blue to attack the Galra to her heart’s content as Lance silently muted the other paladins from hearing him.

“Coran?” Lance asked, opening a private line.

“Yes Lance?” he responded, sounding slightly confused at what the Blue paladin needed to say while in the middle of a battle.

“We’re in a Galra controlled sector so that means there could be chance for the Galra on the Balmera to alert any nearby battle cruisers for assistance. So I guess you and Allura should be careful and take cover, the castle’s not fully healed from Sendak’s attack right?” Lance explained. Following Alfor’s AI destruction it was Coran who discovered that the Galra crystal's virus was able to take control of the castle much more easily due to the damage sustained on the Balmera while fighting the Galra.

Coran nodded seriously and closed off the line. Lance felt a little bad for lying to his adopted uncle since Lance knew that it was likely the Galra cruisers approaching were coming due to information tipped from the coordinates that Haggar sent the robeast heading their way.

Lance unmuted his teammates just in time to catch Shiro’s order for him and Keith to stop the fighters from launching. Lance hummed in agreement and followed Keith’s Lion as it shot in the direction of the holding bay for the fighters. At least Lance had his teammates with him to help in the fight.

XxX

“Slow down a bit would you?” Lance whined to a speed-walking Keith. Keith had unmounted his speeder and without even looking at Lance had rushed off to the cliff side of the hanger for the fighters. Keith refused to answer Lance’s prodding and summoned his bayard, Lance immediately recognized the tensing of his legs as his go-to tactic of attack, which was to run in and start swinging (which had a projected failure of more than 75% according to Slav).

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Lance hissed as he grabbed Keith’s shoulder to prevent him from moving further, “Slow down there Sonic! You can’t just run in and start attacking, especially against such widespread forces you might hurt the Balmera in the process, you heard Hunk.” Lance pointed out. Keith tensed under his hand and Lance, with a heavy heart, carefully removed his hold on him.

“Are you okay Keith?” He asked carefully.

“Yeah, I’m fine, why would you think anything is wrong? Nothing’s wrong, stop asking!” Keith spoke quickly attempting to end the line of inquiries. Lance sat silently beside Keith who had still yet to look at him.

“Is this about the boyfriend comment Pidge made?” Lance asked quietly. Keith froze beside him. _‘It is about that,’_ he thought, a twinge of hurt traveled through his body.

“I guess I might have been reading the signs wrong,” Lance said, genuinely hurt and embarrassed,” I thought we had been growing closer and back at the party on Arus I thought that maybe- that...I’m sorry if it made you uncomfortable.” Lance said softly. Keith made a distressed noise and Lance looked up to see Keith shoving his face against Lance’s helmet.

“I do like you!” Keith said urgently. Lance stood still, frozen in surprise at the confession.

“It’s just that the others started teasing about liking you and I panicked because I was like ‘how did they figure it out???!!!’ and so I thought it was because I wasn’t being subtle and figured if they knew then you did too! And you hadn’t said anything and what I said back on the ship I-I didn’t really mean it because I actually do like you because you help me up when I get knocked down at practice! And you walk with me to breakfast! A-and you compliment me! You worry about me! You make jokes to make me laugh! A-and I like being around you because...b-because you were kinda the only friend I’ve had outside of Shiro,” Keith babbled before speaking quieter at the end, “-I didn’t want to scare you away by telling you I liked you, so back on Arus… I just...didn’t” He said so softly Lance had to strain to hear.

Keith was looking down at his feet as though he was ashamed to admit that he liked Lance. _‘That just won’t do’_ he thought to himself as he rushed forward and enveloped Keith in a hug. Keith didn’t move for a few seconds before he tightly gripped Lance’s waist, pulling them closer together. Lance smiled happily against Keith’s neck, savoring the feeling of Keith’s hand’s on him and the natural warmth from his body radiating off him. Lance reluctantly pulled away, they still had a job to do after all, Keith still kept a tight grip on Lance’s hips and Lance beamed at an equally happy and excited Keith.

“Timing could’ve been better I gotta admit but let’s go stop those fighter from getting out and reveal our feelings after we’ve liberated the Balmera.” Lance remarked. Keith nodded seriously before looking down at the sentries.

“How are we going to do it if my way won’t work?” Keith asked. Lance tapped his cheek and pointed towards the bay doors overhanging the fighters. A sparkle of realization entered Keith’s eyes and he quickly chased after Lance who carefully began creeping over the beams to the command center. Once arriving both of them argued briefly about the placement of Keith’s cut to break in. After carving the hole Lance gripped Keith’s shoulders to steady himself before pushing down with all his weight to land on the sentry at the controls. Lance immediately located the hand of the guard and pressed it down on the handprint, watching as the bay doors closed above him and Keith.

“Let’s blow this popsicle stand!” Lance smiled to Keith who grinned back and slashed at the control system with his sword. As they both exited the mechanical doors Lance shot at the entrance pad to ensure no one could get in before rushing back to Keith’s side so they could sneak onto their speeders and meet the others at the center of the Balmera. All in all it looked as though everything was going the same as last time.

XxX

Seeing Shay so young again was surreal, Hunk had been holding her bridal style when he and Keith arrived at the center of the Balmera. Lance felt a wad of emotion grow in his throat at the nostalgic sight and was startled out of his slowly darkening thoughts at the sound of the doors closing behind him.

“It was a trap.” Shay said sadly. “They knew you would return and used me as bait to lure you here.”

“How could they possibly know we were coming here?” Shiro asked, baffled.

“I know not.” Shay said.

“The same way they knew we were on Arus!” Lance exclaimed, drawing their attention.

“Remember? We said they might be tracking us somehow, it’s how Sendak found us, how the robeast may have found us” Lance said, looking at the blooming realization on the faces of the other paladins.

“However they’re doing it, it means there’s nowhere we can go without them finding us-they can monitor where we go and who we help!” Pidge exclaimed.

“Okay, we’ll bring the issue up to Allura after the mission, maybe Sendak will know how they’re doing it but for now we need to focus on how to get out of here.” Shiro confirmed as they all nodded in agreement.

“Allura is there any way you can help us, we’ve been trapped within the Balmera.” Shiro asked as he activated his comms.

Allura’s grunts of effort came through on the comms in response. “We’re quite occupied, surprise fighters arrived a little while ago, Coran and I have been holding them off but I don’t know how much longer we can hold out. You must return to your lions, quickly!” Allura exclaimed as she turned off the comms once again.

“The Balmera can help! They will deliver the message for us.” Shay exclaimed as knelt and placed her hand on the ground.

“What is she doing?” Keith whispered to him.

“Saving our asses,” Lance remarked as he fondly watched Shay selflessly risk her life once again to save them. _‘I guess some things really do never change.’_

XxX

Upon being freed from the Balmera’s center all five paladins began to race back to their Lions, Lance calling upon Blue to resist upon any attempts to kidnap her. Lance’s speeder finally arrived at Blue and was reincorporated into the systems as Allura shouted for much needed backup.

“Let’s form Voltron!” Shiro shouted. Lance smirked as he immediately reached for the other paladins through their mental link. The different parts of the Lions all reformed to accommodate one another, the transformation was getting smoother and smoother each time they used it.

“Let’s go!” Shiro yelled as Voltron began flying towards the ships attacking the castle, the particle barrier was notably lighter in color, Lance pushed down the worry of the Galra crystal virus slowly eating away at the systems-as soon as he returned to the castle he would make a copy of Alfor’s AI, just in case. Voltron made quick work of the fleet, alongside the castle the battle was short. Just as the paladins began celebrating Shrio spotted a similar carrier to the robeast on Arus.

“What is that?” Keith asked as they all turned their gazes toward the carrier.

“Trouble.” Shiro responded tensely.

XxX

 _‘A shit load of good knowledge of the future is doing now.’_ Lance thought as he gazed up at one of the more difficult opponents Voltron had ever faced, especially considering that they had never _technically_ defeated the robeast the first time around. At this point in time the bond between paladins was still too weak to unlock any of Voltron’s greater powers and the Balmera still wasn’t fully healed so it looked as though they were on their own for the time being. Lance could summon Blue’s sonic sound waves but that would raise too many problems, and the situation wasn’t so dire that he needed to pull it out yet. Shiro’s frustrated grunts and Pidge’s huffs of anger caught his attention as they attempted to maneuver the arms of the robot after Shiro ordered them to dismantle Voltron, it had a perfect 360 degree, horizontal view of everything around the battlefield. No matter where they moved, it would always have a perfect line of sight for where they were, unless….

“Guys! I have an idea, Keith! Shiro! You two are the best pilot of the bunch so you’re gonna need to pull whatever magic you’ve used right now!” Lance shouted as he dodged one of the green beams.

“Copy,” Keith responded.

“What are we doing?” Shiro asked, the barest hint of desperation in his voice.

“You said that thing couldn’t keep eyes on all of us right? Well it’s view is purely horizontal! If you both maneuver around it’s legs it’s going to have to-”

“-Look down to follow us, then you, Hunk, and Pidge can take it down!” Keith exclaimed in realization.

“Exactly babe! Be careful though, it’s fast and if we miss any opening by a margin of a second it could hurt the Balmera!” Lance advised. That wouldn’t be a wise decision considering Allura was still in the middle of healing it while they bought them time.

“Guys as great as that plan sounds how exactly are Keith and Shiro supposed to get close enough to that things legs in order to distract it?” Pidge asked, hesitantly.

“You guys leave that to me!” Lance smiled. “Ready beautiful?” Lance asked Blue who growled happily in response.

“For what?” Keith asked sounding confused. Blue rushed forward powering her ice cannons, maneuvering around the beams fluidly. The ice beams shot into the eyes of the robeast, buying them only a small opening.

“Now!” Lance yelled. The Black and Red Lions both began flying towards the legs of the beast, firing their cannons at different points as they weaved around the legs. The robeast shot at both of them, carving into the Balmera. Lance winced and sent a silent apology.

“Pidge, Hunk aim for it’s chest cannon while it’s distracted it’s where the power seems to be coming from!” Lance order as he supercharged Blue’s ice cannons. Pidge and Hunk began following his lead and lent their share of fire power. _‘Come on, come on, come on!’_ Lance grit his as he increased power to the cannons from 70% to 90%. If this failed then he and Blue would be easy targets and any damage would put them out of comission for at least four minutes, too long when in the middle of a battle.

The beast began to lift its head towards the three paladins, Shiro fired at the its chin, blasting it’s head back and removing its sight from Lance and the others. The armor of the beast began to crack, _‘Just a little more,’_ Lance ground out.

“Blue focus all power on cannons,hurry!” Lance exclaimed, he couldn’t afford to let the beast live, it was too close to Shay and he wouldn’t let anything happen to her. Lance felt the drain on power directed to flight, temperature, and pressure control. Lance heard Pidge and Hunk yell similar commands to their own Lions. The combined fire of the three immediately blew a hole in the chest of the robeast, who ceased movement. It’s body began to glow, shining an unsettling green. Lance gasped in realization.

“Shiro! Keith! Get out of there it’s gonna blow!” Lance screamed as the beast erupted like a green firework, scattering parts of itself around the Balmera. Lance covered his eyes to protect it from the brightness.

“KEITH!” Lance shrieked, in despair, his heart racing as he lost sight of both paladins in the debris from the explosion.

“-e’re-o-ay,” A voice crackled in Lance’s comms. Lance immediately worked to clear any interference from his end.

“Red took a hit but she’s okay and so am I,” Lance heard Keith’s voice over the comms and sagged in relief.

“Mullet you are seriously going to kill me one day,” Lance sighed over the sound of his teammates celebrating their victory.

XxX

Allura was exhausted from healing the Balmera and Lance urged her into Shiro’s arms using the excuse that Shiro was the strongest of them (that was a lie since Hunk could benchpress all of them if he wanted). The other paladins were meeting and discussing with the newly freed Balmeran’s, Shay and Hunk were both blushing and speaking in low tones to one another. Lance stood between Coran and Keith who were also silently observing.

“Ahhhh,” Lance sighed dreamily, “young love. How I envy thee.” Lance squealed. As Hunk scuffed his foot on the floor and fiddled with his hands in front of a less hostile Rax and a smiling Shay.

“It’s a shame though.” Lance sighed.

“Why do you say that my boy?” Coran asked curiously. Keith also offered an inquisitive look.

“Hunk’s a paladin and will need to leave eventually- but they look like they could build something between them. And you guys know Hunk is my brother in all but blood and I just want him happy.” Lance sighed batting his eyelashes at a pensive Coran.

“Maybe he won’t need to leave his blooming love!” Coran exclaimed as he began to race back to the castle probably to retrieve that communicator he had been thinking about.

Lance and Keith watched his retreating back as he quickly ascended to the castle.

“What was that about?” Keith asked him curiously.

“Matchmaking.” Lance responded simply. “I just have sixth sense for people who will end up in happy relationships together!” Lance bragged slightly.

“Uhuh.” Keith agreed, unbelievingly.

“You don’t believe me but I know for a fact that the both of us are compatible considering our mutual love for the Spice Girls and Selena.” Lance said as he rubbed against a brightly blushing Keith.

“H-how did you know that?!” Keith hissed in embarrassment. How anyone could be embarrassed to express love over two of the most amazing music icons in history Lance would never know.

“You hum their songs when you’re happy.” Lance pointed out. Keith sputtered and in a shoddy show of trying to preserve his dignity moved to stand beside Shiro who was supporting Allura. Lance smiled and waved as the two of them shot him confused looks. Honestly that boy would beat his emotions to death in an abandoned car park. But still, teenage love is surprisingly unyielding.

XxX

The night the paladins returned to the castle Lance waited for all of them to retreat back to their rooms before making his way down to the memory extraction chamber where Sendak was being held. Lance ignored him as he made his way to an empty chamber and inserted one of the memory mobile crystals that Blue supplied him. A through scan revealed that the virus had definitely infected the system a considerable amount but had yet to reach the systems containing Alfor’s AI. The issue with making a backup of someone’s memories was that it wasn’t a complete copy only parts would be able to be replicated as for the most part a person’s memories were priceless and irreplaceable. If Alfor did end up getting destroyed his presence would be more like recordings rather than something Allura could interact with, but it was better than nothing-at least he would able to be present at her future Altean Union with Shiro, something Allura had wished for more than anything. Lance waited patiently as parts of Alfor were copied to the crystal, the process took a considerable amount of time and when it was finished Lance was left with a brightly glowing crystal which he could stash in Blue.

Lance hurried back to his room to catch a few hours of sleep so he could wake up in time for when Keith stopped by his room to walk with him to breakfast as they’ve done everyday since the first night on the castle.

XxX

The morning was spent in the memory extraction chamber as Coran attempted to download Sendak’s memories while Allura recovered in her room. The five paladins waited patiently for a few hours before Keith called it quits first.

“I’m gonna go to the training deck.” He announced before beginning to leave. Just before exiting the room Keith stopped and turned to face the others.

“Lance,” he called out. Lance looked up at the sound of his name.

“Do you want to join me?” He asked looking at Lance imploringly. “Or you can watch me train that’s fine too.” He said quickly after Lance didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Shiro snickered and tried to hide his face from Keith’s eyes but apparently failed since Keith glared at him.

“Normally I would say yes to any opportunity to watch you get sweaty and use your sword but I’ll pass for today I just wanna wait a little longer and then I’ll probably join you.” Lance said casually. The innuendo was lost on Keith but apparently not on everyone else who made disgusted faces and gagging noises. Keith watched them like they were crazy and slowly backed away nodding in understanding. Lance watched him leave with fond eyes.

“Ugh,” Pidge gagged, “you two are worse than my parents and they've been together since like middle school.” They whined before standing from their position on the ground and dusting off their shorts.

“I’m gonna see if I can pull stuff from that Galra crystal.” They said and walked away without another word. Hunk’s stomach rumbled behind Lance and also excused himself from the room. Only Lance, Shiro, and Coran were left, Shiro standing thoughtfully in front of Sendak.

“The castle is in some dire need of attention, all the systems need to be recharged and repaired,”  Coran stated before he left.

“I’m going to stay, Sendak has information we need.” Shiro said without looking at Coran. Lance nodded his agreement and Coran bid them a quick farewell before leaving him and Shiro as the only ones left in the memory chamber. Lance sighed and stood from his place on the ground, approaching Shiro from behind, making sure his shoes made sound for every step he took so Shiro wouldn’t be startled.

“Shiro?” Lance asked carefully. Shiro didn’t answer, his focus only on Sendak.

“Shiro!” Lance said slightly louder. Shiro flinched and quickly turned to look at Lance whose eyes were creased in worry.

“Sorry,” Shiro breathed, “I was just-”

“Are you okay?” Lance asked carefully, one always had to tread carefully when dealing with Takashi Shirogane. Shiro’s face showed his stunned feelings.

“What?”

“Are you okay?” Lance repeated making sure to stay an arm’s length apart, his stance loose and unaggressive for the confrontation they were about to have. Shiro nodded but didn’t respond.

“You haven’t been sleeping have you.” It wasn’t a question and Shiro looking away from Lance and back to Sendak told him all he needed to know.

“Shiro, please look at me.” Lance requested softly. Shiro’s shoulders were tensing but he reluctantly slid his gaze back to the blue paladin.

“I know you’re not taking care of yourself, you push yourself harder than any of us. But you don’t need to do that-we’re a team and we’re your friends. We can help you.” Lance said begging slightly. Shiro’s eyes had darkened considerably.

“I know that you’re not comfortable with me or Hunk yet but we have your back and you don’t have to tell us anything, but don’t push yourself so much, you’re not fighting this war alone.” Lance stated.

“What do you know?” Shiro asked harshly. _‘Okay he’s reacting a bit hostile, pull back a little’._

“You can’t remember anything from the last year and you think Sendak holds the answers, but you’re afraid.”

Shiro flinched away from Lance.

“You’re afraid to learn about what you may have done during that year, but you want to know. You want to know so _badly_.” Lance said softly.

“W-why? Why are you doing this?” Shiro asked, it was the fifth time Lance had ever heard him so distressed, none of those were happy memories and Lance hated himself for being responsible for one of them.

“Because I care about you Shiro. I care about you, and Keith, and Hunk, and Pidge, and Allura, and Coran. I care about each and everyone one of you. And seeing you in pain...it breaks my heart.”

Shiro’s eyes had a shiny appearance, his face was creased in pain. Lance did him the favor of looking away, Shiro wouldn’t have wanted him to look. A quiet sniffle reached his ears.

“What should I do?” He whispered.

“Distance yourself. Putting yourself into situations where you’ll be met with your tormentors isn’t helping your health. I hear Coran might need some help rebooting the castle.” Lance suggested carefully.

“What will you do?”

“I’ll stay here and watch our resident chinchilla.” Lance said happily, lightening the atmosphere. Shiro snorted and took a shaky deep breath before quietly leaving the room. Lance waited for his footsteps to fade before the smile slid off his face. He deactivated the memory extraction, it had everything they needed already anyway. And disabled the stream of anesthesia being administered to Sendak and waited for it to wear off. Sendak slowly came to consciousness, his gaze sharpening upon catching sight of Lance.

“ _You_!” He spit out. Lance smirked and walked closer to the pod where Sendak was secured in.

“Yeah. _Me_.”

“I will end you!” Sendak screamed and attempted to move forward, his numbed limbs and restrained body made it impossible for him to move anything below his neck. Lance waited patiently for the struggle to cease.

“You know Sendak normally I wouldn’t hesitate to eject your ass into space and be content with the fact that you’ll suffocate to death but the castle’s going to get rid of you for me in a few hours.” Lance said casually. Sendak sneered at him.

“But you have something that I want so why don’t you do us both a favor and cough up what I want to know.”

Sendak snorted.

“What makes you think I’ll tell you anything. I am a sold-”

“-Soldier of the Galra empire, you fight in the name of Galra, and nothing will stop you except for triumph or death blah blah blah. I’ve heard it a million times.” Lance cut him off.

“But how about this-the castle’s going to malfunction and turn your brain into scrambled eggs which I’m told is not very pleasant. But I’ll be nice and put you back under so you won’t feel a thing. But _only_ if you tell me one teensy weensy little bit of information.”

Sendak remained silent but the tenseness in his face told Lance he had his attention. Lance walked closer to the pod and practically pressed his face to the glass.

“Where. Is. Lotor?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we finally be gettin to the good shit.


	8. it's ya boi, lotor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance confronts Sendak, stops the paladins from making a big mistake, and looks for the trash-baby son of Zarkon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello children, take some advice from me and don't procrastinate your school work so you give up sleep in order to not fail. Stay strong children, don't be like mother.

Sendak stood in stunned silence for all of a minute before he broke out in harsh laughter. Lance quickly double checked that the doors to the chamber were closed before waiting for him to finish.

Sendak's laughter was harsh and hurt his ears, it was as if those specific vocal chords were rarely used, the laughter eventually died down save for the occasional snort.

"I have two questions. One, how do you know about Lotor and two, why would you want to find the disappointing bastard son of Lord Zarkon?" He asked, grinning menacingly.

"One, none of your fucking business and two, none of your fucking business." Lance said sarcastically. Sendak's eyes hardened but his malicious grin remained.

"Blue paladin does your team know that you're interrogating me?"

"If they didn't would I be here? And I'm asking the questions so shut up. Now Lotor, do I have a location or not?"

Sendak's grin became strained until it eventually morphed back into a scowl.

"No one keeps tabs on where Lotor is now, only the last place he has been. The ungrateful child spends Zarkon's money like it's nothing, causes embarrassment in every place he visits, and shames the name of Galra," Sendak spit out like Lotor was a particularly disgusting topic.

"Oh yeah because you're so much better Sendak." Lance muttered. "So follow the money and trail of teenage angst, got it. Well you've done your part Sendak, and a promise is still a promise even if it is to you." Lance said as he reached for the panel.

"Your secrets will be your own downfall paladin I'm only upset that I won't be there to see it." Sendak growled to him just as his hand rested on the panel. Lance felt a frown pull at his lips and restarted the pod without answering, the tense, scowling body of Sendak slowly slumped into unconsciousness once again.

"I already know that. But I don't expect you to understand what it feels like to love something so dearly that you would do anything to make sure it's happy." Lance whispered in the empty room.

Lotor was....a decent enough person, usually.

Most of the time he was a brat, a lonely sad brat who only wanted friends- but a brat nonetheless. For some reason even years after Lotor ascended the throne of the much smaller Galra Empire-Allura and Keith still couldn't stand him. When the three of them were together it was like WWIII in the form of passive aggressiveness. It could even put Hunk to shame.

Shiro had once joked about the three of them being enemies in their past lives and considering what Lance was experiencing it probably wasn't too far fetched of an idea as Keith was always inexplicably tenser whenever Lotor was in the same system as them. Which happened quite often since Lotor had somehow gotten the idea that they were all friends and visited as often as he could.

Keith nearly ruined Lance's (their) dream wedding when he tried to stab Lotor for showing up uninvited (but that wasn't really true since Lance had sent him an invitation out of pity).

But really Lotor was about as dangerous as a three legged cat-the kid had been sent away by his father at a young age and acted out to get his attention, the only reason Zarkon hadn’t killed him was because his birth had been publicized and so it wouldn’t be good to kill of the “beloved son of Emperor Zarkon”.

Lance sighed as his thoughts dwelled on the incredibly energetic Prince.

It wasn’t that he _didn’t like_ Lotor, it’s just that…..he was exhausting to be around, constantly showboating (not that Lance didn’t do his fair share), interrupting conversations, speaking over people, no brain to mouth filter. Lance would love to like Lotor but he didn't make it easy. But as irritating as he could be he was still a pretty sensitive guy, and easily manipulated. If Lance could just reach out to him before Haggar and Zarkon’s generals could then a lot of bloodshed could be avoided.

Just as Lance began strategizing his next move mentally (it was too risky to write anything down and have someone possibly find it) the doors of the memory extraction chamber let out a silent groan and started sliding open, Keith shoved himself in through the partially opened doors.

“Lance!” Keith yelled, his eyes crazed as he sprinted to his side. Lance let out an ‘oof’ as Keith slammed into him and began heavily patting his body as if searching for injuries.

“Hey, hey, hey, take a deep breath” Lance instructed as he gently stopped Keith’s hands and held them still, “what’s the big idea? Is something wrong?” He asked. Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, and Coran soon flooded into the room just as Keith finally took a slight breather.

“We thought you might be in trouble,” Shiro explained, “the castle’s been acting weird, the training bot would have killed Keith if I hadn’t intervened, Hunk and Pidge were stuck floating in zero gravity and were attack by the food goo machine, and Coran had to manually disable cryopod when I got trapped in it.”

Lance looked them each over with critical eyes just to make sure no one was injured.

“It must be the Galra crystal, it may have infected our systems more than we thought,” Coran stated. An alarm for an impending wormhole jump sounded throughout the room as the castle suddenly lurched.

“Impossible,” Coran breathed, “the castle is making a wormhole jump!”

 _‘Allura,’_ Lance thought as he followed the other who were running towards the command center. _‘Stupid, stupid, stupid! We were so focused on Sendak we thought we would have more time since the castle wasn’t as badly damaged but our calibration was off!’_ Lance screamed internally as they turned the corner and burst through the doors to see Allura in her night clothes steadily steering the castle towards a dying sun.

“Allura!” Coran yelled in distress, “what are you doing?!”

“We’re going home!” She said happily, “back to Altea!” Her voice had such fond revere that Lance desperately didn’t want to be the one to burst her bubble.

“Allura that’s not Altea! You’re driving us towards a sun and it’s about to explode!” Shiro exclaimed as he began to approach the command. The pilot’s particle barrier suddenly rose up as Alfor’s head appeared on the largest screens of the castle and began yelling warnings to the paladins and Coran.

“Pidge can you override the system?” Lance asked desperately. Pidge immediately went to their station and began typing into their dashboard.

“I can’t! The whole thing’s been scrambled which is made even harder by the fact that it’s _all_ in Altean!” They exclaimed. _‘Shit._ ’ Lance cursed, distantly he heard Coran begging Allura to remember the Juniberry flowers and trying to wake her from the hallucination.

“We need to get to our Lions and slow down the castle!” Shiro ordered. Lance immediately began heading for his hanger, Blue was worriedly prodding his mind. ‘ _Blue is the crystal still secure in you?’_. Lance felt her affirmation and allowed his worry to diminish a little. It was better than nothing, he had hoped the lessened damage on the Balmera would allow for Pidge or Coran to detect the infection before it reached the AI systems. But it looked like he was wrong...again.

Lance flew Blue against the castle and began pushing, along with the other paladins to slow it down, anticipation curled in the back of his throat, soon Allura would order them back after having destroyed her father in order for them all to escape.

It wasn’t fair. Allura had already lost so much, she didn’t deserve this. It wasn’t fair.

‘ _If you were better, than this wouldn’t have happened,’_ a traitorous thought whispered in his ear. Lance knew that no matter how well you prepared things they could always go wrong, but he couldn’t help it. He had been in space for a couple of weeks already and what did he have to show as progress? He didn’t even know Lotor’s location, he’d have to contact Nyma and Rolo and see if they could find anything but then that would put further suspicion on him already, it was already a huge risk slipping them information and asking them to find Pidge’s family in plain sight of the others. _‘In war we need to take risks’_ -Shiro used to tell them that all the time, when they all escaped a battle by the skin of their teeth. Lance missed his Shiro, just like he missed his Keith and the rest of his team. But it’s like Sendak said, he was lying to his friends, lying to Keith. How would they react if he told them, would they be angry? Sad? Would they believe him? Would they ask him to leave? Would Keith ask him to leave?

Lance doesn’t know if he could bare it if Keith wanted him gone. Keith was his life, his whole world-Lance had become so used to living by his side that he’s not quite sure how to do it on his own anymore.

“Lance?” Keith’s voice washed over him through the coms. Lance smiled slightly at the sound.

“I’m here my sunshine, what do you need?” He asked gently, ignoring Pidge’s exaggerated gagging and Hunk’s giggle.

“Nothing, you were silent for awhile and I was just checking if you were alright.” Keith responded matter of factly. Lance grinned.

“Awww my sweetheart was worried about me, I am so blessed, so grateful-”

“Why are you like this?” Keith groaned.

“Boys as much as I’m happy for the two of you now is really not the time!” Shiro exclaims as they all continue to push against the continually advancing castle.

“Sorry Shiro,” Keith apologizes, Lance hums in agreement. Blue is starting to get tired, she really was not made for strength, she’s a jack of all trades but that puts a strain on her since she’s not specialized for anything excluding water related stuff.

“Paladins, return to the castle,” Allura orders somberly. Lance’s slowly rising good humor pummels right back down at the sound of her voice.

He really should have tried harder.

XxX

Sneaking into the memory interaction chamber was harder than he thought, Allura spent quite a bit of time in there by herself before Lance tipped off Shiro who led Allura back to her room. After that it was a simple case of duck in and load on the memories, then duck back out. The empty memory crystal was now devoid of its radiant blue color and was stashed back in Blue before the night was over. Lance felt disappointed in himself, Allura was his best gal, (alongside Blue) as well as the godmother to his children how could he have let her down so badly? He tried to make it right, but offering recordings of her father seemed so cheap.

Before Lance knew it he had wandered down to where Sendak was still being held, he quickly ran a scan and affirmed his earlier assumption-his brain had been fried by the castle, the same would’ve happened to anyone dwelling in a castle based function, if any of them had been in a cryopod the same would have happened to them. Now all that’s left was the memories the machine extracted from Sendak during the time he had been sitting there. Lance observed the purple colored memories critically, there wasn’t much-all that was on it was probably the location of that Galra pit stop. The others would want to go, see what information they could pull out. But there would be nothing, it would only lead to trouble and back them into a corner that they were nowhere near prepared to fight for.

So before he could change his mind Lance quickly reached out and destroyed any memories that were extracted. The others would be upset when they discovered it the next morning, they’d think it was a system failure, the same one that killed Sendak- making a bad day seem even worse but Lance was doing this for their own good, maybe one day he would tell them why.

XxX

Watching Pidge angrily scan through Sendak’s empty memories was almost enough to make Lance cough up what he did. _Almost_

“Aghhh!” Pidge screamed in aggravation as they scanned the memories for what looked like the hundredth time. “There’s nothing! That stupid crystal washed it away when it corrupted the castle yesterday! I can’t find anything not even after trying to cross check with the info I got from Sendak’s ship!” Pidge yelled as they started pulling at their hair, Lance quickly slapped them away from their head.

“You’re going to hurt yourself,” Lance said sternly as Pidge instead switched to tapping their foot and clenching their fists..

“What do we do now?” Keith asked. The rest of them stood silently for a minute, Lance waiting for an opening to pitch his idea.

“We need a good map of the empire, someway to figure out the locations of trading routes or military bases-places we could hit and run.” Shiro said pensively.

“Guerilla tactics,” Lance noted approvingly. Shiro nodded absently.

“You said we needed a map?” Lance probed. Shiro nodded once again, beginning to pace back and forth.

“Why don’t we just ask for one?”

“Oh and how would we do that genius? Just go up to a Galra and ask _‘excuse me sir would you mind offering me a map of the galactic empire?_ ’ ” Pidge asked mockingly.

Lance wasn’t offended, they had a tendency to act this way when they were stressed so Lance wouldn’t hold it against them since it was justified this time.

“Yes.” Lance said plainly, the others looked to him in confusion. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do. Think about it, not every Galra is going to be like Zarkon or Sendak, the Galra are still people- back on Earth you could walk into a convenience store and buy a map of the whole world! There are libraries covered wall to wall with books on governments of different countries, almanacs, dictionaries-information is free flowing guys! The Galra are probably the same or how else would they educate their children or conquer parts of the universe if they didn’t spread propaganda about themselves!”

The others were watching him with wide, unbelieving eyes.

“You’re right.” Hunk breathed. “We’ve been going about this all wrong- we’ve been thinking of these Galra guys as impossible to beat but they’re still people which means that there’s plenty of information on them out there somewhere!”

“So we’re going to look in a Barnes and Noble for the answer to beat Zarkon?” Keith asked, baffled. Lance nodded enthusiastically. Shiro appeared to be considering the idea.

Allura and Coran still looked stunned and unsure

“Coran! Do you know a place where someone can buy,  shop, or just hang out?” Lance asked. Coran seemed to think for a moment before snapping his fingers in a ‘Eureka!’ fashion.

“About 10,000 years ago there were a race of people known as the Unilu that would sell just about anything provided that you were able to and willing to bargain!”

Allura immediately made a disgusted face, “Coran you can’t honestly be suggesting we _go_ to one of those swap moons, the Unilu can’t be trusted to remain silent!”

“We could buy their silence,” Lance offered, “plus it’s been like 10,000 years, your information is likely outdated so they may have changed especially since Zarkon’s been a major influence on the universe.”

Coran and Allura both seemed conflicted-Coran likely because he wanted to shield Allura from the more gritty aspects of the universe and Allura because she was likely still unsure about such non-covert actions.

“But we need to leave soon and do this quickly-we don’t know how Zarkon is tracking us and it should be a priority at this point.” Lance said seriously, everything he was working toward would be a waste if Zarkon could find them again.

“I ran a scan earlier on the ship, there's no device that’s transmitting messages outside so it’s not the castle.” Pidge explained as they pulled up several charts and a model of the castle on their screen.

“It can't be any of us either since if they knew Allura and Coran were on Arus they would’ve probably had at least a guard or something to report back any progress.” Lance mused. “- And it can't be any of us either since we were all on Earth for years, living peacefully, and the Galra only found us while exploring Kerberos so there's no way they could be tracking us. And it can’t be you guys since there haven’t been any Alteans around for thousands of years-so they couldn’t exactly track you biologically, if that is even a thing (it was a thing but thank god the Olkari were peaceful and sided with Voltron)” Lance stated before Allura was able to say anything about her suspicions of being the reason they were being tracked.

“Princess does Zarkon have a connection to anything belonging in the castle, that may be the key.” Lance asked. Allura appeared conflicted about revealing information but slumped and turned towards Shiro who watched her with curious eyes.

“I told you that the black bayard was lost with its paladin- I purposely framed my statement in order for it to appear as though the Black Lion’s paladin was gone, this is false,” She said diplomatically before taking a deep, anxious breath, “ Zarkon is the black paladin and is currently in possession of the bayard, but I don’t see how that can mean he is able to track us.”

Shiro’s eyes were widened in horror at the information, Keith looked angry, and both Hunk and Pidge appeared stunned.

“Zarkon was the former black paladin and you didn’t think to tell us!” Keith yelled at Allura who looked ready to defend herself but Lance interrupted before she could.

“Is he really the former paladin? Like if he got close enough to Black could he potentially take control of the Lion?”

Allura looked shaken by the prospect.

“Of course not! A Lion may only have a single pilot!” Her confident words were not backed up by the hesitant look on her face.

“But this situation has never happened before right? Two pilots fighting for the same Lion? If Shiro's bond wasn’t strong enough could Zarkon call Black to her and maybe even use her as a homing signal-the same one that’s leading him to us?” Lance interrogated, Allura’s face was creased in displeasure. She clenched her hands and looked down at the ground, her eyes filling with angry tears.

“Theoretically.” She grit out. She knew that Lance was spitting out entirely possible (and true) scenarios but after her recent loss, her emotions were already rubbed raw and this new information wasn’t helping. _‘Maybe I should’ve held back for a bit_ ’ Lance thought.

“With this new revelation it seems as though we may have to move along much more carefully than before, at least until Shiro has formed a better bond with his Lion, one stronger than even Zarkon’s!” Allura yelled confidently as she took her place up on the castle’s control deck.

“We will set a course for the nearest swap moon and attempt to locate Lance’s suggested information there! But until then I want you all to strengthen your own bonds to your Lions- just because Shiro’s training has now become crucial does not mean any of you may slack off!”

At her words everyone immediately began to head for their hangers, Shiro with an especially sick expression and Lance with a conscious that was steadily being weighed down.

XxX

Blue purred in Lance’s mind and Lance smiled at the feeling, no matter what happened or how things turned out-Blue would always have his back.

His pilot’s chair was still stiff, not yet broken in from years of use so Lance always squirmed whenever he sat down, muting and blocking any calls that his fellow paladins might send him before silently typing in the hailing number for Nyma and Rolo’s ship. Lance was quietly hoping Beezer would answer since he’s always been the no chit-chat one of the group who would do things without asking questions whereas Nyma and Rolo had the tendency to be curious and want information before offering up any of their own.

Luck was not on his side, Rolo answered.

“Yello’!” He answered enthusiastically his eyes lazy, but gaze sharp. He straightened up when he saw who it was.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Blue paladin of Voltron what can little ol’ me help you with today? You know besides risking my neck to liberate a bunch of slaves from different colonies around that universe and delivering them to refugee camps?” He said, pretending to wave off the work they were doing. Lance sighed.

“Rolo I do appreciate what you’re doing, Nyma explained the situation to you probably, or maybe not.” Lance said as he actually took his words into account. Nyma had the inclination to not tell anyone anything until they had no choice-she probably bent Rolo’s arm backwards to agree to Lance’s plan. Deep inside they were both good people, they would’ve done it anyway without urging...eventually. Rolo breathed deeply through his nose and pretended to mull over Lance’s words.

“No you’re right, she explained. I was actually surprised she was the one who suggested it, Nyma’s always had the strongest self-preservation instincts out of both of us.” (Lance knew this it’s why he went after convincing her first instead of Rolo). “So what did you need ol’ buddy, ol’ pal of mine?” He asked smirking lazily, if Lance didn’t know there was a flying prodigy and sweet talker under that facade he may have been fooled.

“What do you know about Zarkon’s son?”

Rolo appeared surprise at the question.

“Lotor?” He asked baffled. “About the same as everyone else I guess, spoiled rich boy- parties and shops a lot. There’s like a new story about him every week on GAE” Rolo said casually.

“GAE?” Lance asked, this was the first time Lance had heard of it. Rolo looked equally confused at his question before a sparkle of realization entered his eyes.

“Ooooohhhh right, Nyma mentioned that you guys come from an underdeveloped planet.”

“We just found out that there’s life outside our solar system.”

Rolo whistled and clicked his tongue on pity, “Damn shame that is.” Lance probably should have felt offended but he couldn’t help but agree, after spending years traveling from solar system to solar system and exploring thousands of advanced planets he felt a little sad at knowing Earth was so far behind despite having had more time to develop than many of the species he met.

“Well, GAE stands for Galra Approved Entertainment, it basically just delivers all the latest gossip and fashions as well as scandals, most of which are headlined by Lotor.” Rolo explained. Lance nodded in understanding.

“So space TMZ,” he murmured.

“Sure.” Rolo shrugged. Lance nodded as he considered Rolo’s words, being featured on TV often might explain why Lotor had such a huge ego and was hurt when the paladins didn’t know who he was. This was good- Lotor was well known, likely maintained a presence on whatever social media platforms there were, and had access to a news station that could broadcast to likely the entire universe if what Rolo implied was correct. This was good, Lance could use this.

“Anything else you needed?” Rolo asked.

“Just one more question, would you happen to know _where_ Lotor is?”

Rolo considered his words before nodding. “Pretty sure he’s on one of his shopping sprees again if what I remember from the GAE channel is right. I think he’s on one those Unilu owned shopping complexes.”

Lance thanked Rolo and urged him to be careful before sitting back in his chair.

This wasn’t just good, this was _perfect._

XxX

Bonding with the Lions was actually a very quiet experience since all of the paladins looked like they turned off their comms. Lance had spent the majority of the time before Allura called them back to the control room catching up with Blue who complained about how lonely she was waiting for him to come back to her. Lance considered asking why she was able to remember him before recalling Shiro’s words from years ago. _‘The bond between a Lion and her Paladin transcends both space and time-never take it for granted’_. Lance smiled and opened himself up to Blue, feeling her excitement as she trailed through his mind and memory. Allura’s call for them to come back to the control center a few hours later ended their connection and Lance left the hanger feeling not nearly as as alone as when he entered.

XxX

Out of all of them Shiro appeared to be the most tense when they returned. Allura turned to face them with a much more lightened expression.

“The nearest swap moon is about only a system away now but we should change into the appropriate garments for now.”

“‘ _We?’_ Oh no Princess you’ll remain right here! I won’t allow you to be in contact with those Unilu!” Coran explained. Before Allura could start complaining Shiro interjected.

“Actually I was wondering if I could stay on board the ship, me and Black aren’t as close as I would like to be so I wanted to work on our bond for longer while the others went down and hopefully gathered the materials we needed,” Shiro explained. Coran and Allura granted him permission and he was heading back to the hangers before they finished speaking. The others watched him go with unsure expressions.

“We can talk to him when we come back,” Lance assured the others as they all turned back their attention to Coran who was handing out the ‘pirate’ garb for them to wear.

“Coran are you sure about this?” Lance asked as he grimaced at the blue infinity scarf that looked like it had seen better days.

“Absolutely! This is the fashion used by all pirates! And we need to blend in!” Coran insisted.

“Yeah, maybe 10,000 years ago,” Pidge muttered, “can’t we just go dressed like ourselves?”

The other paladins put in their own complaints and a huffy Coran finally allowed them to leave dressed normally, but not without extensively warning them that he wouldn’t comfort them when they got their pockets picked.

Hunk had gotten down to the pod bay first and happily called shotgun forcing them all into the slightly cramped backseat. Normally Lance would complain but Keith had pressed Lance against him in their shared seat, allowing Lance to rest his head on Keith’s chest. Keith’s arms were loosely wrapped around him, like he was unsure about their placement.

Pidge had taken their seat across from them and given them a once-over before smirking and mouthing _“gay”_ to them. Lance shrugged and Keith spit out their tongue at them. The ride was mainly silent, and Lance was anticipating an easy trip-they all split up to look for a bookshop or kiosk and Lance would go looking for Lotor. This was going to be easy.

XxX

Lance spoke too soon, his first time at the space mall had been very short and he hadn’t looked at just how big it was. It was _big_ , the mall was literally the size of the entire moon and Lotor could be anywhere! Keith had tried to go with Lance to find information but Coran had pulled him with him. Lance would’ve protested because Lance desperately wanted to make a mall date their first date (much better than their actual first date which consisted of sharing rations while stranded on a planet with developing life, awaiting rescue. Lance made the mistake of drinking the planet's water and threw up on Keith when he tried to kiss him) but instead he waved sadly at Keith who kept glancing back at him as Coran chattered away, dressed in pirate garb, the only one who did “disguise” himself. Hunk and Pidge both gave him quick and bright-eyed goodbyes before going off on their own, leaving Lance to stand by the giant clock, that looked sort of like a twisted up sundial. Walking around and looking for Lotor would take far longer than a vaga as Lance looked over the directory to the mall. He needed to find someplace that would give a view of everywhere in the mall, but where-.

God he was so stupid, last time they had been chased away by security who had found them by using the _cameras_ stashed all over the place.

Lance needed to break into the mall cop’s office.

XxX

Finding the office had been easier than he thought it would, considering none of the signs were in a language he could read. It’s not as though Lance didn’t make the attempt to learn the vernacular of the universe but his youth was so busily spent he never had the time to sit down and study, then after he hit fifty and began scouting for a protege to take his place after he was gone- he began to simply rely on translators, not the most efficient way but now Lance had more time to learn and do things he had always wanted to do.

He didn't think that would involve drawing out the only mall cop in the entire planet’s shopping centre on a wild goose chase but just yesterday he was a happily married man and helped save the universe on numerous occasions so anything could happen.

Lance politely pressed the what looked to be the ‘call’ button in front of the mall police office.

The door slid open to reveal a slightly pudgy and short Galra man.

“I am Varkon of the Unilu mall security how do I assist you today?”

Lance slapped on a panicked expression and began pointing frantically to the right, “There are these young people causing all sort of havoc on the other side of the mall! One of them is good with tech and is playing looping footage so no one would come but I ran here as fast as I could,” Lance said urgently. Varkon appeared stunned at his words and immediately gained a determined expression as he hopped on what looked like some scooter and immediately began speeding away, yelling about no one getting away with crime in his mall. Lance stopped the sliding door from closing by placing his foot in between the latch and slipping inside. It was basically a combination of a surveillance station and a locker room. In one of the open lockers Lance spotted a poster of Zarkon and grimaced in disgust. He hesitated for all of a second before he went over and tore it down, folding it into a square and sticking it into his back pocket, it would come in handy.

Jogging over to the surveillance station Lance began flipping through the different channels, looking for Lotor.

He spotted Varkon still, slowly riding the scooter down the hall.

Keith had apparently lost Coran and looked to be running through the mall looking for something, probably _me_ Lance thought giddily before continuing to switch the channels.

Hunk had apparently found the food court and taken over one of the stands, good on him.

And-was that Pidge digging through a fountain? They must be searching for GAC to buy the video game they wanted. But still no Lotor.

No

No

No

Wait! Is that- No

There had to have been thousands of channels to switch between but little to no people had the distinct white hair Lotor had- if he could just find it then-a flash of white caught his attention, Lance quickly flipped through several channels scanning the one he stopped at, had he made a mistake? No, he was right there! Lotor appeared to be looking through the shelves of a cosmetics store three sections away from where Hunk was currently serving a long line of people.

Lance could see Lotor’s bright yellow eyes scanning various products as store workers offered him samples of the different things they sold. His sleek, white hair was tied in a high ponytail and braided, his deep purple skin accented by his white brows and lashes, fangs glinting slightly every time he flashed a charming smile. He was wearing a white body suit that hid absolutely nothing and was filling his arms with products likely worth thousands of GAC. Lance had to get down there. Noting the location he immediately set off for the store, making sure to avoid encounters with his teammates. The escalators cut down travel time significantly but just as he arrived, Lotor already looked to be leaving, holding several bags in each hand as he strode confidently down the walkway.

Lance sped up and raced to his side, slightly running into his shoulder, forcing him to drop his bags. Lotor whipped around and watched Lance with surprised eyes as he bent down, apologizing, and began handing back the purchases.

“Oh gosh I’m like super sorry I went to slow down but you know how it is,” Lance babbled as he shoved each bag back into Lotor’s hand, who nodded and shrugged.

“I understand, _you all_ tend to make mistakes,” Lotor smiled, flicking his hair over his shoulder like the piece of shi- _easy Lance, calm down_. Lance offered a tight smile to Lotor who didn’t appear to notice the difference and just continued talking.

“-I mean though honestly? How could you? Not everyone can be blessed with wonderful coordination as well as stunning looks! Though I must say your skin is very radiant, if a bit textured,” _What the fuck did he just say._ Lance almost forgot why they all collectively disliked Lotor in the beginning it was because He. Was. An. Asshole. Lance offered a fake laugh, which again Lotor didn’t notice.

“And your clothing,” Lotor shivered, “Is that pure _organic fiber_?”

Alright that’s it. Lance grabbed Lotor’s forearm and dragged him into a nearby clothing store hiding among the racks of clothing and bending Lotor down slightly, hissing into his face.“Look Lotor I’m here because I’m trying to help you!”

Lotor’s eyes widened at the words.

“Within the upcoming months a lot of things are going to happen, many of which revolve around Zarkon, your dad!”

Lotor flinched at his father’s name.

“Things are going to start going south and when Zarkon can’t tell people what to do they’re going to turn to _you_!”

Lotor pushed Lance away at that, glancing around before leaning back into Lance’s face with wild eyes.

“My father doesn’t care about me, none of his generals like me, there's no way he’d put me in charge of the Empire! He told me so himself! So you're wasting your time-just go away because nothing about that is going to involve me!” He spat out, _he’s beginning to get defensive_. Lance swiftly approached Lotor, backing him into a corner.

“You know just as well as I do that you’re still a Prince. _The_ Prince to the Galra Empire and as far anyone knows you will ascend the throne one day, and I need to make sure you won’t fall under the manipulations of people like Haggar.”

Lotor scoffed, “That witch? She was my nursemaid she couldn’t do anything.”

“She’s not a nursemaid she’s a druid and as evil as Zarkon!”

Lotor froze and turned to look at Lance in confusion.

“Evil? My father is not evil, perhaps inattentive and absent but certainly not evil, the Galra people love him as do all his conquered territories.”

“Is that why he shoves propaganda about himself down people’s throats?” Lance asked as he reached into his back pocket and unfolded the poster he stole from Varkon. Lotor’s eyes examined the poster critically before turning away.

“It’s a child’s poster as if that proves anything.”

Lance offered a harsh glare, he had seen this poster plastered in the streets of dying planets forced to offer resources to Zarkon-he knew what it said and so did Lotor

“What does it say Lotor?” Lotor didn’t look at him.

“What. Does. It. Say?” Lance repeated harshly.

“It says _‘It is glorious to die for our Lord Zarkon’_ ” He grit out. Lance nodded slowly.

“That’s a message for children?” He asked mockingly.

Lotor appeared to be slightly conflicted before it was swiftly washed away. He moved into Lance’s personal space, forcing him to take a few steps back.

“Now you listen here. My father may not be a great man but he is _not_ evil do you understand me! He would never purposely endanger others! And a single poster proves nothing!” Lotor whisper-shouted, stabbing Lance’s chest with one of his clawed fingers to punctuate the point.

“Will this prove something?” Lance offered Lotor a holographic drive of which contained a collection of photographic evidence he had collected so far by using Blue and his suit’s camera. On it were pictures of the prisoners rescued from Sendak’s ship stored in healing pods; their injuries still visible, the Galra mining facilities on the Balmera, the dying Balmera, scenes of battle showing the Galra attacking the Balmera from their fight. Lotor flipped through them his expression growing more and more confused and frustrated.

“These are Galra cargo ships, but they’re-”

“Actually warships. And those prisoners you saw in the healing pods? They were taken from their homes and forced to fight in gladiator ring for your father and his supporters _entertainment_.” Lance said coldly. Lotor looked scared and confused and normally Lance would've backed off, but Lotor didn’t need coddling, he needed the truth.

Lotor shivered at the information before straightening.

“You’re lying,” He whispered, his eyes told a different story. “My father is not like this! He wouldn’t-”

“Are you sure?”

Lotor didn’t say anything, his face creased as he probably thought desperately of something to prove Lance wrong.

 _“ARE YOU SURE?_ ”

Lotor couldn’t respond and simply stood, unmoving.

“The truth is you don’t know what kind of person Zarkon really is…..but I do.”

Lotor looked up at his words and watched him with careful, unsure eyes.

“He’s a monster.” Lance whispered.

Lotor’s eyes steadily filled with tears, none of them fell but they were still there.

“Why tell me?” He asked. “Why put this burden on me?”

“People will listen to you Lotor- you’re a Prince.” Lance’s words seemed to shock Lotor based on his widening eyes, it looked as though he had never really considered the weight of his title before. Lance lifted Lotor’s palm and closed it over the drive. “Keep it Lotor, and remember what I said, you can help us stop Zarkon or you can let this keep happening. No one will ever know, i’ll walk out of here and when you decided to leave you can either dump this in whatever waste chute you find and wipe your hands of this situation or take it and fight for these people.”

Lotor appeared shaken at the words and remained in the same position after Lance left the store, heading back to the large clock where the others would be waiting for him.

It had been a risky move, Lotor wasn’t exactly brave- but he loved his people, something that surprised all the paladins when he agreed to shrink the size of the Empire on the condition that the Galra people would not be persecuted as a result of Zarkon’s actions. But still, the risk of his decision left a tingling feeling all over his body and Lance speed walked back, spotting Keith’s distinct red jacket from a distance and calling out his name.

It turned out Lance wasn’t the last to arrive, that title went to Hunk who ran towards them screaming about starting the pod before Sal chained him back down. Lance didn’t want to know and just started running.

XxX

Out of all of them Coran was the one who managed to track down several charts and maps of the Galra Empire as well as scaltrite lenses he bought on a whim in an Unilu shop at the mall. Shiro had entered the control deck with a distinct satisfied air around him which immediately turned confused when he noticed Pidge’s cow (Kaltenecker apparently now belonged solely to Pidge instead of the shared custody they had before, Lance was a little upset).

For now it seemed as though they were all properly satisfied to pour over the newly acquired maps and began planning strikes on food and supply shipments to military bases, Lance strongly advised they avoid striking areas where there was military supervision on enslaved areas,’ outwardly by saying it may be a food source for the slaves as well (and inwardly because any of those ships may have contained Nyma and Rolo or their allies who are freeing the captives by thu hundreds in the large supply ships). By the time the night was over and Coran finished uploading the charts onto the database he will have discovered the remaining memories Lance reloaded and for Allura the day would seem just a little brighter.

As Lance walked aimlessly back to his room he felt Keith’s familiar presence come up beside him

“Hey,” Keith said softly, “I tried looking for you after I got away from Coran but I couldn’t find you.”

Lance turned to face Keith, smiling gently at his earnest expression.

“I was looking through the clothing stores for a jacket.” Lance said shrugging. Keith looked confused at his words.

“A jacket? What for?”

“For you my blooming buttercup! I figured a real jacket would make a good ‘will you go out with me?’ gift” Lance responded easily, knowing how Keith would react.

“A real-” Keith’s face instantly turned annoyed. “My jacket _is_ a real jacket, it’s just how it is! That’s the style!” He insisted gesturing to himself, Lance nodded along as he allowed Keith to go on his rant. Eventually he turned and huffily marching back to his room, by the time he got inside he would realize that Lance did just in fact admit he wanted to go out with him. Oh Lance could imagine the scream of frustration already. Lance chuckled to himself and turned to enter his room, plopping down on his bed and deciding to do his skin routine in the morning.

Lance hadn’t thought of Zarkon’s defeat in years but he does know that from his years of accumulated war experience that when taking down a power crazed king or rising tyrant it was always best to go in for a final strike-no red-do’s, no try-agains, just one perfect final shot. And for that they would need more than just Lotor to take on the public platform. He needed someone on the inside, many someone’s. He needed the Blade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you all know by now what i'm going to title the next chapter based on how i ended this one.


	9. while you were partying, i studied the blade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team finds Ulaz and goes to the Blade of Marmora for an alliance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i don't even know if this meme is still alive but i used it as the chapter title anyway

Lance was willing to admit he was not a perfect person, he made mistakes. He just prayed trusting Lotor with sensitive information was not one of them. The others had never found GAE before, Lance found out about it himself very recently and so he depended on Rolo to give him the rundown on their weekly quick chats to see how he and Nyma were doing, both of them were steadily enlisting the help of other underworld dealers who had beef with the Galra Empire in liberating several colonies-it was slow work but it appeared to be working so far.

Nyma had caught wind of someone with similar human features to Lance working in a mining colony they were planning on hitting soon and promised to update as soon as they could affirm that they found Matt or Sam based on the pictures he included in the drive. Lance also hasn’t been told anything about Lotor making any statements, he could be biding his time or he could be putting out a manhunt for Lance since there was footage of him accosting Lotor at the mall.

At this point anything was possible, if Lotor didn’t choose Lance would it suck? Absolutely. But he could work past it and eventually the overwhelming evidence against Zarkon would change Lotor’s mind, he was a smart guy but got blinded by his emotions so getting him to break ties with his father wouldn’t be done in a single conversation. Hopefully the holograms he left with Lotor would at least trigger his moral reasoning, the rest of the work would be up to his personal conscious and hopefully some carefully placed words by the Blade of Marmora members who were undercover in the military. That is if he could somehow get the Blade on his side, it wasn’t as though Lance could just call them up like he did Nyma and Rolo, Kolivan was as paranoid as one could get, to talk to a Marmora member you need to go to the Marmora base and to do that he needs Ulaz to tell them.

Lance was seriously way in over his head.

XxX

Keith and him had formed a slightly awkward and tentative relationship, both of them desired each other but also didn’t want to rush things. The most intimate thing Lance had been able to do so far was tie up Keith’s hair for him when he got too hot in practice, Shiro thought it was adorable and cooed over them whenever they did it. It was actually really embarrassing, Shiro seemed more invested in their relationship than they did sometimes. It was like a proud father and teasing older brother was rolled into a single man.

“Shiro go away!” Keith yelled at a lounging Shiro while he and Keith were relaxing in the observation deck as they floated aimlessly through space before starting their next attack.

“What? I’m not doing anything?” Shiro said in a faux-innocent voice from his position at the wall across from them. Shiro had a barely suppressed grin on his face and Lance would normally be annoyed at the situation but Shiro had been more relaxed lately, spending more time with the team when he wasn’t bonding with his Lion, and so long as he wasn’t working himself to death and relaxing a little then Lance could deal. But it looked like Keith could not.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know what you’re doing Takashi!” Keith screamed as his face scrunched in annoyance, Lance reached out and patted his head.

“Babe careful with that anger, remember what I said about your blood pressure.” Lance softly chided.

“Awww he’s looking out for your health, isn’t that just-”

“I’m going to murder you!”

XxX

Keith had shouted something about blowing off some steam in the training room after Lance gently encouraged him to cool off. So both he and Shiro were left alone on the deck. After a while Shiro silently approached and sat nearby, the silence was comfortable, both of them just enjoying the company.

“I want to thank you,” Shiro spoke lightly.

“For what?” Lance had done a lot of things but he wasn’t sure any of them required gratitude.

“For looking out for Keith, I used to be worried about him back in the Garrison, he didn’t make friends easy and spent a lot of time by himself it’s nice to know someone was watching him.”

Lance winced at the phrasing, “Oh man don’t say it like that it makes me sound creepy.” He whined. Shiro let out a laugh that echoed through the room and Lance smiled happily at the sound.

“I should be thanking you though.”

Shiro looked at him in confusion at that statement.

“For supporting me and Keith." Lance explained. "You could’ve easily pulled us apart and put a stop to it because you worried about the team dynamics but you trusted us enough to let us get close and you don’t know how much I appreciate that.” Lance said sincerely. Shiro smile back at him.

“Keith probably would have beat me up if I pulled a stunt like that, I trust him- he’s got good instincts and a good heart, I know that he wouldn’t let himself get hurt easily so if he wanted to take a chance on you than who am I to say no?” Shiro shrugged. Lance sighed in relief and relaxed against the back of the couch the both of them were resting on.

“So how are things?” Lance inquired. Shiro made a ‘so-so’ motion from the corner of his eyes, Lance nodded.

“That’s good to hear, I’m glad that you’re opening up to us more now.” Lance said softly. Shiro was silently for a long time and Lance almost worried that he had overstepped his boundaries.

“About what you said before…,” Shiro began, “..I want to know what happened during that year. There’s so many things I don’t know-like how did I get back to Earth? What happened to me?...Sendak was the only one who could’ve given me those answers but now he’s gone and I have nothing.” Shiro confessed sadly. Lance frowned at the tone and slowly slid closer to him.

“Are you a ‘punch in the shoulder’ or ‘hug’ kinda guy?” Lance asked seriously as his thighs hit Shiro’s. Shiro turned to him in bafflement.

“What?”

“Do you like the casual sort of comfort that doesn’t last long or do you prefer the slower and more tender side of things?”

Shiro appeared to consider his words for a moment. “The second one,” he responded. Lance nodded approvingly and threw his arm around Shiro, bringing his head down to rest on his shoulder as he leaned them both back on the couch. Shiro was very big and very muscular, Lance hadn’t hit the end of puberty yet and was still small compared to him so the position wasn’t entirely comfortable but Lance didn’t care; his brother-in-law needed comfort and dammit he was going to give it to him.

The two of them sat still for a moment before Shiro spoke again.

“I just wish there was something, someone who could tell me because if I don’t find out somehow I swear i’m going to lose my mind.” Shiro murmured. Lance hesitated to say anything, weighing the pros and cons of what he was going to say next in his mind. Before he could stop himself, he opened his mouth.

“...Let’s have Pidge rerun a scan of your arm, and check for patterns maybe there’s something we’re missing.” Lance softly replied. Lance felt dirty for using ulterior motives during such a crucial moment in his relationship with Shiro. End goals or not Lance was a terrible person for doing it and using Shiro’s moment vulnerability to further his own agenda. He was a horrible person.

The two of them silently gazed out into the wide expanse of open space, stars twinkling distantly, the hum of the castle being the only sound available.

“I miss Earth.” Shiro admitted softly. Lance nodded gently, his head rocking against Shiro’s, brushing against his white bangs

“Me too,” Lance sighed.

XxX

“I’m not sure what you think I should be looking for,” Pidge said as they typed rapidly at their laptop, Shiro’s arm hooked up. Lance, Pidge, and Shiro were the only one’s in the work room at the moment. Hunk was happy-baking after his most recent conversation with Shay, both Allura and Coran were reworking the systems to prevent another infection and were in much higher spirits after finding remnants of Alfor’s memories, and Keith was probably taking his post-workout shower right about now and would probably head to the kitchen for a snack before coming to look for Lance.

“Please Pidge, can you just look harder?” Shiro begged. Pidge glanced at him and nodded seriously before returning to typing with renewed fervor. Lance stood to the side carefully watching them, an internal struggle currently rampaging in his mind as he fought with himself- he could tell both of them right now about what was really going on. It would be better, things would be smoother if they were all on the same page….but.... maybe it would also be better to save it until after they found Ulaz. Lance leaned against Pidge’s work counter and closed his eyes, listening to the sound of keystrokes filling the empty room.

“I think I got something!” Pidge suddenly exclaimed, Lance’s eyes snapped open, Shiro leaned forward in anticipation.

“It looks like a series of repeating numbers,” Pidge explained as they turned their screen to show Lance and Shiro, “but if you put them together then- _coordinates_ ,” they finished with an air of self-satisfaction. Shiro was staring at Pidge’s screen in silent shock, Lance in slight nervousness.

“We have to show Allura.” Shiro breathed.

XxX

“Absolutely not it could be a trap.” Allura said with an air of finality. Shiro looked devastated.

“Allura come on this is a lead we can’t just not follow up on it!” Lance interjected.

“I agree with Lance and Shiro this could be something big.” Pidge added.

“Or it could be a trap,” Keith argued. “The Galra haven’t exactly proven they could be trusted, this could be some big hoax in order to get us to fall right into their trap.” He added

“That’s too big of a jump in logic!” Lance reasoned, “That would mean the Galra would have had to think we would search for a repeating pattern, find the numbers, work out that they’re coordinates, and then _go_ to the coordinates! There's no way they could have predicted this would happen! And even if they did they wouldn’t know _when_ we would do it!”

“I still do not like this.” Allura insisted.

“Allura, please, this could be my only chance to find out what happened- these coordinates could give us something! I have to know. I have to.” Shiro pleaded, his eyes wide in distress. Allura observed him with wide,  hesitant eyes, before turning to Pidge who held the coordinates on their computer.

“Pidge can you see if you can track down when the numbers were uploaded into the coding?”

Pidge nodded immediately and began typing  quickly into their laptop before stopping.

“It looks like it was uploaded at the same time a couple cycles ago….I’ll convert it to Earth units aaaannndd got it!” They exclaimed happily before freezing. “It’s time stamped for June 12, that’s the night before you landed on Earth,” They said quietly. Shiro was in a similar state, looking at Pidge’s computer unsurely.

“Shiro you don’t remember how you escaped right?” Lance asked softly. Keith shifted uncomfortably from his position beside Allura and was watching Shiro carefully for his response.

“No..I can’t remember.” He murmured and looked away from everyone, Lance swiftly approached him and rested his hand on his shoulder in comfort.

“Someone could’ve helped you escape, this might be a message from them,” Lance gently suggested. Shiro still stared down at the floor in careful consideration.

“Let’s check it out.” Shiro demanded as he finally looked up at the the group watching him in conceren

"Shiro...are you sure about this? After all the Galra, they, they took your arm." Keith said as apprehension shone in his face. Shiro turned to look at him, his forehead creased in anxiety.  
"Keith this is my chance to learn about what happened! I have to go, at least to find out if this is a dead end or not.”

The room was blanketed in silence, no one said anything.

“Allura?” Lance prodded carefully, hoping that they would have some sense to listen to them. Allura’s face was set into a picture of distaste.

“We’ll see what’s there but I still am not in agreement.”

XxX

The ship jumped through a wormhole to get to the coordinates location, Lance gave Hunk the rundown of the situation as they all took their positions on the command deck. The Thaldycon system was littered with nitrate salts floating freely in a cluster. The other’s ooed and ahed over the sight but Lance couldn’t find it within himself to join them, too focused on Ulaz who would be arriving soon.

“Scanners show nothing living in our immediate area.” Coran reported as the Castle was steadily steered closer to the supercluster.

“That can’t be right,” Shiro muttered lowly, “Coran can you bring us closer?” He asked. Coran shook his head in a negative manner.

“I wouldn’t risk it, we’re too close to unstable nitrate salts if they hit the castle the explosion would deliver serious damage.” Coran informed them. Allura made a huffing sound from her position at the helm of the ship.

“Alright that’s enough we came to the coordinates and there’s nothing here, let's leave, we could spend our time better by delivering attacks to Zarkon rather than wasting our time chasing false leads.” Allura said tensely. Shiro immediately protested.

“We can’t leave yet Allura we only just got here! There’s more to this I know it! I can feel that this isn’t hostile territory!”

“I am sorry Shiro I know that you desire answers for your lost time and I’m sorry that I cannot give them to you but I need something more substantial than a simple ‘feeling’.” Allura argued.

Lance listened silently as Allura and Shiro argued in front of him, his mind pulled away by the fact that Ulaz was so close, yet he couldn’t just approach him out of nowhere, he had to save the message for Kolivan and Lance intended to get them _all_ to the headquarters as quickly as possible...or at least as soon as he managed to diffuse the tensions between Allura and Shiro.

“Alright!” Lance exclaimed, interrupting Shiro and Allura’s verbal dispute. “You both have different ideas about what we should do so let’s go through this carefully, Allura why do you want to leave so badly?”

Allura sighed softly and straightened her back, “It’s just as I’ve said, we could be spending our time much more valuably than seeking some Galra who we don’t even know is an ally and-”

“I told you whoever this is had some connection to my escape! They’re an ally no matter how you look at it!” Shiro interrupted.

“Shiro! You’ll get your turn but it’s Allura’s turn to speak!” Lance scolded loudly. He could hear Hunk, Pidge, and Keith snickering lowly but paid them no mind as Shiro huffed and offered Allura a barely audible apology. Allura smirked in triumph before continuing.

“As I was saying, and the fact that whoever this is could be dangerous just makes remaining here a needlessly risky decision.” She finished.

Shiro scoffed softly and Allura immediately glared at him. Lance resisted the urge to grin, it’s like the two of them were married all over again, both Allura and Shiro were strong and unyielding personalities so they had the tendency to butt heads but they acted more like an old married couple, before they were an actual old married couple who filled their days with snark and sarcasm. Lance and Hunk had played mediator for them more times than he could remember.

“And now you Shiro, present your argument for the class.” Lance instructed

Shiro nodded affirmatively and started, “The Galra who loaded the coordinates into my arm took a huge risk in doing so, why would they if they weren’t against Zarkon? Not to mention they helped me get back to Earth and retrieve the Blue Lion which led us to Arus and eventually Voltron so-”

“And yet here we are at the coordinates they delivered and still no sign of them and us sitting in a system filled with highly unstable nitrate salts!” Allura interjected.

“You already had your turn!” Shiro complained.

“He’s right Allura you got your opportunity to speak now allow Shiro the same grace he showed you.” Lance soothed as the two of them scowled at each other. Any further argument was cut off by the sound of the alarm going off.

“There’s an intruder in the castle!” Coran exclaimed.

“I knew it!” Allura yelled as she summoned various cameras from around the castle. “I told you this person would be hostile!”

“You never said that!” Shiro argued as they all ran to suit up.

“The intruder is on level 5,” Allura informed them as they all raced to the level. Lance knew he would be the first to meet Ulaz and slowed down as he turned a corner and saw Ulaz in his Marmora uniform at the end of the hall. Lance slowly raised his arms, to show his unarmed status and approached him, opening his mouth to speak

“Lance has caught sight of the intruder head to his location immediately!” Coran called over the intercom. _‘Shit’_ was all Lance thought as Ulaz charged towards him.

“Wai-!” Lance dodged quickly as Ulaz swiped at him. “Stop! Listen to me we-!” Another swipe to his legs, Lance stumbled slightly and quickly crouched down to avoid a kick to his chest.

“Oh it looks like our resident Blue Paladin is holding his own in this fight!” Coran said excitedly.

“Coran you’re not helping!” Lance yelled in frustration as Ulaz suddenly froze at Coran’s words and Lance quickly took advantage.

“What he said is right I’m the Blue Paladin of Voltron and you’re the one who helped Shiro escape the slave ship right?” Lance asked rapidly hoping Ulaz wouldn’t attack again. Ulaz’s tense form slowly left the fighting stance he had curled into and faced Lance with a more defensive position. Lance’s shoulders sagged slightly in relief.

“Guy’s stand down, the intruder is not hostile, it’s the person we’ve been looking for,” Lance explained quickly before any of the other paladins had a chance to leap to conclusions. Lance slowly approached Ulaz, his hands open at his sides.

“Look before you say anything I just want you to know that Shiro doesn’t seem to remember anything from his escape and we’re on-board a ship belonging to Princess Allura of Altea who may need some time to warm up to you but other than that we all just want to ask some questions, is that okay?” Lance said carefully, he hadn’t known Ulaz a long time before his untimely demise but from the way Kolivan spoke about him he seemed to be a very perceptive and loyal, albeit reckless individual.

Ulaz didn’t get a chance to respond before Pidge rounded the corner, stopping when they caught sight of Ulaz, their face was twisted in uncertainty, glancing between him and Lance. Lance turned his back to Ulaz (a mistake) and began to soothe them.

“Pidge it’s okay he’s on our side.”

Lance’s words were immediately combated when Ulaz wrapped an arm around Lance and pulled him to his chest, his blade resting on his neck, just a hair away from breaking skin. Pidge immediately pointed their bayard at Ulaz, their eyes fiercely determined, behind him Lance could hear Hunk and Keith’s approach. Shiro soon rounded the corner on Pidge’s side and froze as well at the sight in front of them.

“...Alright I know this looks bad, but let me explain.” Lance began. Keith’s yell from behind him cut him off, the sound of his boots rapidly approaching threw a wrench in Lance’s plan. Ulaz quickly turned and used Lance as a human shield to stop Keith in his path and then kick him away. The sound of Pidge’s bayard activating had Ulaz jumping away, his grip still solidly on Lance.

“Guy’s wait! You’re not helping the matter! Shiro just come here! Prove that you’re you so we can stop this already!” Lance yelled, as Keith made to charge again with Pidge by his side. Ulaz backed against a wall and faced them all, his blade still lingering threateningly at Lance’s neck. Shiro activated his galra arm and made to remove his helmet as he ordered the others to stop moving. Upon the removal of the Black paladin helmet, revealing his scarred nose and white hair Ulaz release his grip on Lance and lowered his blade, Lance stumbled forward and into the arms of Keith who hadn't wasted a second in reaching for him. Ulaz reached up and removed his hood, his identity protecting mask disappearing immediately afterwards. Ulaz’s yellow eyes critically observed Shiro who had frozen at the sight of him. Shiro suddenly clenched his eyes shut and groaned like he was in pain, stumbling backwards and into a nearby wall where he leaned against, his body trembling as he fought off one of his memories. Hunk who was nearby hovered by his side worriedly, waiting for him to become lucid enough to talk. Light and quickly approaching steps caught Lance’s attention as his head shot up in time to see Allura quickly approaching Ulaz, who was watching Shiro in concern. In a move that was a testament to stupidity Lance jumped in front of Ulaz and received the severe punch that was meant for him.

“Cheese and Crackers!” Lance groaned as a startled Allura released him from her pin against the wall, Lance rolled his shoulder and felt a satisfying _‘crack’_. Allura turned her glare to Ulaz who met her gaze unflinchingly, Lance stood in front of him separating the two.

“We should take this to the living room.” Lance suggested leaving no room for argument as he gripped his shoulder and motioned for Ulaz to follow him, he nodded at Hunk who made to stay with Shiro until he was well enough to join them, it would be better if Shiro wasn’t in a crowded room, surrounded by people anyway.

Allura looked ready to protest but Lance shook his head at her and motioned to her in the same way as Ulaz.

Silently, with the exception of Hunk and Shiro, they all walked towards the living room of the castle. Keith walking close by, shooting concerned glances, and Lance’s shoulder still throbbing.

XxX

“Allura we’re not going to cuff him like some prisoner.” Lance sighed. Allura bristled in anger.

“He cannot be trusted! He is Galra and he almost killed you!”

Lance closed his eyes at the approaching headache this was going to be, getting people to see eye to eye had always been his least favorite part about being a paladin. Politics had been his forte but it had worn away years of his life.

“Two things, one Galra does not equal untrustworthy I cannot stress enough how wrong what you just said was. And two he _could have_ killed me, he had a knife to my throat and humans are actually really fragile beings! But he _didn't_ , and I think we're not giving that fact enough credit.”

Allura’s face was carefully blank, her gaze cold as she observed Ulaz who was sitting on the couch behind Lance as he stood in front of him, facing off against Allura who was clearly in disagreement with Lance's methods.

“Why do you insist on giving him the benefit! We are in a war! Anyone could potentially lead to the downfall of Voltron!”

Lance met her glare with equal ferocity. “Just because this is war does not mean we are animals! Here's a person who saved Shiro from Zarkon, at the risk of his own life! And you want to stand here and draw conclusions about them and their intentions rather than asking just because they're Galra!?” Lance hissed, his temper shining through, generally he was a collected person but he had been on edge since his meeting with Lotor.

Allura hesitated, her face reflecting her uncertainty at the situation before turning to Ulaz and coldly regarding him.

“You have my ear for now but don't mistake this for trust.” She said tensely. Lance released a breath he didn't know he’d been holding in, at least she wasn't completely hostile anymore, maybe his words from earlier had some effect but he still had work to do before she was back to the open opportunist Allura he had known.

Ulaz nodded gratefully from the couch and stood up, towering over Lance and the others. Allura released a huff and Lance turned around when he heard the others exclaim in surprise.

Allura had shifted to Ulaz’s equal height and met his stare.

“I didn't know you could do that!” Pidge exclaimed as they began probing Allura’s body. Allura kept her gaze on Ulaz while responding.

“Alteans are a chameleon like people, it's what has made us such great diplomats, or what _made_ us such great diplomats.” She said harshly, directing her anger at Ulaz.

“Allura he wasn't even alive when Zarkon destroyed Altea, he had nothing to do with that. Why are you punishing him for something he didn't do?” Lance asked gently, hoping to spark her out of her emotional state, Shiro had always been better at it than him but Shiro was trying to bring himself back together and Lance couldn't ask this of him.

Allura didn't respond but he could she her slight reluctance in continuing her current behavior.

“Allura is right to be suspicious after all he led us to some dangerous part of the universe how do we know he's not just trying to trick us? Besides none of the Galra we’ve met so far have been exactly trustworthy.” Keith interjected. Lance frowned and turned to face him.

“Keith those were Galra specifically loyal to Zarkon of course they wouldn't be nice! And we’d know his reasoning if we let the man have a chance to defend himself! Plus don't think that you're off the hook, I know you attacked first.”

“I was trying to save you!” Keith began to argue, indignantly.

“And it was super hot,” Lance assured him as he tried to turn the conversation back around, instead directing his attention to their guest.

“Please, go ahead,” Lance said as he motioned towards Ulaz who had remained silent in the entire exchange. Ulaz nodded at him before speaking.

“I am Ulaz. I helped Shiro escape from the slave ship because I felt that he would be a great asset in the fight against Zarkon.”

“And why would a Galra want to bring down Zarkon? I thought he was your beloved leader?” Allura asked suspiciously.

“We had once believed that Zarkon would bring balance to the Universe, it was only later that we learned he was nothing more than a power hungry tyrant.” Ulaz said.

“That sounds about right to me,” Lance muttered.

“Is it only you here or are there more of you?” Allura questioned.

“I at the only one in the base presently.”

“What base? We ran scans over the surrounding areas there’s nothing here.”

“Welllll I mean if it’s a hidden base wouldn't that technically be the point?” Lance asked. Allura turned her glare to him and he immediately backed up, holding his hands up in innocence.

“The Blue one is correct it is a hidden base, in a pocket of space time, one of many. It belongs to the rebel group I am part we are known as the Blade of Marmora.” Ulaz announced.

“Hidden among the xanthorium clusters?” Pidge asked incredulously. Ulaz shook his head.

“No it lies in the center of the clusters if you fly ahead you will see.”

“This is a trap, we cannot trust him!” Allura insisted.

“Allura think about it! He left those coordinates in Shiro's arm with no guarantee he would ever find it and could’ve been stuck waiting out here for years! There's just no way this can be a trap!” Lance challenged.

“I agree with Lance, Ulaz freed me and hasn't done anything but defend himself so far.” Shiro’s voice broke in behind them. Lance turned and caught sight of Shiro marching in with a concerned Hunk on his tail, his complexion was much paler, his breathing hadn't returned to normal, and he looked ready to fall over but the determined glint in his eye prevented him.

“Shiro,” Ulaz acknowledged, “now that you are here you know you are welcome to the outpost.”

Shiro nodded and stood in front of Ulaz uncertainly. “ You said that there are more like you?” He asked.

“He says they call themselves the Blade of Marmora and that they're a rebel group.” Keith informed him. Ulaz nodded in agreement.

“The Blade has been built on centuries of work, it is very secretive and suspicious due to the nature of our organization.”

“Centuries?!” Allura growled. “How can you say that when Zarkon's empire is still expanding! From what I see your group has accomplished nothing!”

“Allura!” Lance exploded. “They're struggling just as much as we are! At least they're here! At least they're trying to take on someone like Zarkon-they're in the same position as us and I don't appreciate you undermining what they've spent years building!”

Allura froze at his voice and tone, turning to look at him with hurt eyes, no one ever yelled at her, but then again no one ever doubted her competence and having Lance of all people lose his temper at her probably hurt. She masked her emotions and turned to Ulaz.

“I apologize for my callous words, they were quite insensitive.” She said diplomatically. Ulaz acknowledged her words despite the hesitancy in her voice.

“I may be more compromised than I had led myself to believe,” Allura confessed, “we will put our next action to a vote, those in favor of entering the base raise your hands.”

Shiro’s hand immediately shot up, Lance following quickly behind. Pidge turned to Ulaz.

“Do we get to see how you hid the base in space time?” They asked curiously, at Ulaz’s affirmative nod their hand soon joined Shiro’s and Lance's. Hunk promptly raised his hand as well, the mechanics of the situation likely catching his interest. Keith's hands remained tucked by his side, his facial expression tense. Allura gazed at them all cautiously before sighing.

“That's four votes against one.” She looked down at the ground in slight defeat before turning to face the intercom on the wall. “Coran steer the ship forward, carefully.” She advised. Coran released an affirmative noise before the castle lurched forward.

“Impact in 5….4….3….2…-” Coran let out a sound of surprise. “I-I don't believe it, they're folding space!” He exclaimed as a screen suddenly appeared nearby showing them the colorful tunnel they were traveling through. Upon exiting the opening, the screen displayed a lightly colored, circular base hidden in the pocket. To Lance it looked identical to every Marmora base scattered throughout the universe, only the main base had a distinct look. Distantly he heard them all discussing about Ulaz's need to deliver a message and requests by Pidge and the others to join. Keith tapped his shoulder and brought him back to attention, his face tilted in a questioning manner.

“What?” Lance asked.

“I asked if you wanted to come along, everyone but Allura is coming, we’re going in Red.” Keith explained. Lance nodded and offered Keith a smile who didn't hesitate to return it

“Let’s go check out this shindig.”

XxX

They all packed into Red, Allura watching them leave.

Ulaz stayed by Shiro and explained how Slav, their reclusive engineer was responsible for the technology and that they couldn't risk Zarkon getting his hands on it.

“So he's safe?” Lance asked. Ulaz turned and regarded him with a look Lance didn't recognize.

“I am not in charge of Slav’s guard but he rarely leaves the headquarters, he is secure.”

Lance nodded and reminded himself to tell Kolivan to guarantee Slav’s safety, he was already a shifty and jumpy person and his time in Beta Traz certainly hadn't helped. Lance followed, somewhat inattentively as they exited Red and entered the communications station, watching as Ulaz typed in a message and sent it to Kolivan presumably.

Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro were all standing around Ulaz. Keith was standing tensely beside him, before moving up to Ulaz and questioning his sword. Lance looked away and bit his lip. Keith wasn't an idiot, even with the lack of evidence he’d be able to figure it out himself. But...was he ready? Learning something so big about himself would scramble his emotions and mind for a few days and Lance wanted to be there to reassure him. Allura may have some difficulty dealing with it but Lance was going to help both of them to try to work past it, they were his friends and of course he would do anything for them. With fond eyes he let a small smile grace his features and went to join the rest of them as they all curiously asked Ulaz questions about the Blade and the base.

XxX

They all left the Thaldykon system unscathed, no robeast had appeared and more importantly, Ulaz didn't die. Ever since the plan to begin steering the ship to the Marmora base began Shiro had been spending more time bonding with his Lion and talking with Ulaz in his free time. Allura appeared content to just ignore Ulaz’s existence and became tense whenever the two interacted. Keith also had the habit of trying to subtly dig up more information about the Marmora members and if any of them had ever visited Earth, Lance saw what he was doing instantly after all this was more so Lance's area of expertise.

The team was functioning well enough but Lance couldn't help but dread what would happened to Keith when he found out, despite outward appearance and behavior Keith was sensitive, he took words to heart and it hurt him when people treated him poorly. Allura didn't know this, for the most part none of them, not even Shiro did. Lance only learnt this after years together, every fight they ever had was always at the back of Keith’s mind. Right now he was young and insecure about himself and learning he shared his parentage with a race he had begun to despise would be devastating and Lance couldn't protect him from that, he couldn't hide the truth from him either. Keith wanted to know, he needed to know. Lance just hoped he’d let him stay close when he did.

XxX

Arrival at the headquarters was smooth, with their location protected by Shiro the others were less hesitant upon arrival. Ulaz insisted on going first, to make sure that the Blade wouldn't react in a hostile manner.

But a while passed and there was no word back from him.

“Maybe they need to catch up or something?” Hunk suggested to a tense Shiro.

“Or they are planning an attack.” Allura pointed out. Lance sighed and heard Shiro yell about how Ulaz wouldn't betray them. Allura had been getting better, but no one was perfect and Lance knew she didn't mean it in a bigoted way, her suggestion was still valid since only Ulaz had proven himself trustworthy to the others. Lance was just worried about how Kolivan was responding to Voltron on Marmora’s doorsteps, who were led by a member they had thought was captured or killed. Kolivan values trust above all else and Ulaz had pretty much gone behind his back to free Shiro so more than likely they were about to hit a rough patch.

“We’re getting a transmission from the base!” Coran exclaimed, projecting up on the screen. Allura translated for them.

“ _You may enter. Come unarmed.”_ She reported. She frowned, her face hesitant.

“It’s too risky for all of us to go and the fact that you will go in unarmed requires the ones most skilled in self defense to attend.” She said.

The others looked at each other. Shiro stepped forward.

“So far I can tell that me and Keith are the ones most physically prepared but…” Shiro turned to Lance.

“Lance I think it would be a good idea to bring you along as well.”

Lance turned shocked eyes, to Shiro. This definitely didn't happen before. Lance was expecting him and Keith to go by themselves and then he would corner Kolivan when he boarded the castle ship but to suggest for Lance to join them? Shiro saw the look on his face and began to explain.

“Ulaz trusts you, he told me that he admired how you stood against your superior officer at your own risk and defended him and others like him even though you had no obligation to and logically should have been wary of him since you were his hostage.” He explained. Lance nodded but still hesitated, this was more about Keith than it was about him. Keith was going to discover who he really was...so wouldn't it be better to be nearby for if he needed him?

Lance nodded at the argument and quietly voiced his agreement, the three of them made their way to Red’s hanger, Pidge promising to keep a lookout in case anything went wrong..

As they made rode down to the hanger Lance saw Keith subtly trying to stop his nervous trembling, without saying anything he reached out and grasped his hand tightly. Keith flinched and turned to look at him unsurely before offering a grateful smile and squeezing Lance's hand back.

XxX

The inside of the base looked about the same as the last time Lance had seen it, only that the atmosphere was tenser. Several Marmora members guarded the door and stood along the hall as they walked towards the main hall where Kolivan was waiting. Upon arrival several more soldiers stood in front of Kolivan, all of them wearing their identity protecting masks. Shiro and Keith both had tense stances. Their arms poised to fight and legs poised to run. Lance knew that the Blade saw this and made a point to leave his back and sides wide open, his stance loose and his face welcoming. Ulaz was still nowhere to be seen and to Keith and Shiro this was not a good sign. Stopping in front of the raised stage Kolivan stood on was met with silence, Shiro was the first one to speak.

“We are the paladins of Voltron, I’m Shiro, this is Keith, and this is Lance.” Shiro said gesturing to each of them, Lance offered a casual wave.

“We know who you are.” Kolivan’s muted voice replied. Lance felt the uncertainty in Shiro more than he saw it.

“Then you know that Ulaz brought us here, we want to help in anyway we can.” Shiro insisted.

“Ulaz bringing you here was a fool’s mistake, for which he will be punished.” Kolivan said coldly. Shiro immediately scowled, Ulaz was someone he considered a friend since he freed him and even managed to fill in many of the gaps in Shiro's memory, he’s why Shiro was far less tense lately and for that Lance was grateful and even agreed with Shiro’s present anger, but they were also in the middle of a diplomatic mission, which is why he brought up his arm and rested it on Shiro’s shoulder to prevent him from making any movements that could be considered threatening.

“Ulaz saved me from remaining Zarkon's prisoner! He inadvertently brought all of us together and helped reunite Voltron don't punish him for that!” Shiro argued. Lance didn't take his hand off of Shiro, but did take a single step forward to address Kolivan.

“What we’re trying to say is that both of us want the same thing. For you it's more personal but that doesn't mean we're not as determined and willing to throw everything we have at this fight. We're all at a disadvantage- I mean we're fighting against a 10,000 year old war lord! For you the stakes are higher, you’re fighting to free not just the universe but your people as well and all we want is what's best for everyone and right now that's taking down Zarkon! We need you and you know that you need us, if we pool together our resources and manpower I don't doubt that we can win this!” Lance said with conviction, he had a guarantee that they would but that wasn't the entire object, it was making sure everyone didn't come out of this as damaged as they did before, Lance was working towards not just a good future but a better one. Kolivan stood silently, his body language giving nothing away.

“I find your words to be agreeable but there still remains the issue that you were told to unarmed and yet have not granted us the courtesy.”

“The Lion was to bring us here, we do not intend to bring you harm!” Shiro stated.

“That is good to know but we did not refer to the Lion.”

A sudden yell of surprise and thump forced Lance to turn around where he saw a Marmora member pinning Keith to the ground and holding him in a lock that Lance knew could easily snap his arm.

“Keith!” Lance yelled. He wanted to move forward and help but he knew he couldn't, unlike him, Shiro was pushed back by another member. The Marmora member holding down Keith pulled out Keith's unevolved dagger from under him.

“He has one of our blades! Who did you steal this from!” The member hissed, pushing down harder on Keith who let out a huff of pain.

“Hey!” Lance growled in warning, none of the Marmora members approached him, after all he hadn't moved.

“I didn't! I’ve had it my whole life!” Keith grunted out.

“Can either of you corroborate this statement?” Kolivan asked, emotionlessly. The discovery of one of their blades on a non-member was incredibly disrespectful to them. After all, many of the members are legacies, born into the life of a rebel, each member had grown up together it’s why they valued trust so much, why each death of a member was painful but necessary, why betrayal would not be tolerated. And it’s why Lance immediately answered.

“Yes, I can! He's had it with him since before we left Earth!” Lance insisted. Kolivan remained silent as if what Lance said wasn't enough, Lance internally sighed at how difficult he was being.

“And there's no possible way he could've gone off planet to get it since space travel is not commercially available on Earth, which only leaves the option that one of _your_ members _came_ to Earth.” Lance reasoned. Lance felt Keith’s eyes on him but instead of looking at him, maintained his glare on Kolivan.

“We are an organization of secrecy and trust, we are taking the knife and ordering you to leave, but we will remain in contact for further planning.” Kolivan said, dismissing them, Keith was allowed to stand up and Shiro wasn't held back anymore. Lance turned to make sure they were both okay but was stopped when he caught the devastated look on Keith's face.

“No.” Lance said turning back around. Shiro made a sound of surprise behind him.

“The knife belongs to Keith and you’re going to give it back.” Lance grit out, few things made him truly angry, watching Keith be hurt was one of them. Kolivan regarded him coolly.

“Your request is denied.”

“Wait!” Keith yelled stepping up. “You know what the blade means. Tell me.” He demanded.

“You should leave.”

“Not without an answer!” Keith shouted angrily. Kolivan remained silent.

“There is only one way to receive knowledge here.”

“How?” Keith asked.

“The trials of Marmora, should you survive the blade is yours and I will tell you what I know.”

Lance's blood immediately ran cold at the words. Shiro began to protest beside him.

“Keith this is crazy! You can't do this!” He insisted. Keith ignored him and glared ahead.

“Deal.” He responded.

“Lance say something!” Shiro pleaded turning to him. Lance shook his head.

“I can’t. This matters too much to Keith and if he wants this than..” Lance sighed uneasily, “-than I have no right to get in the way.” Keith turned to him at his words, his eyes grateful. Lance quickly approached him and enveloped him in a hug.

“If you die and break my heart I’m going to kick your ass.” Lance whispered into his ear. Keith snorted and returned the hug, squeezing Lance until he felt his breath stutter. He turned to face Kolivan his gaze determined.

“Let’s do this.”

XxX

Both Shiro and Lance were led to an observation room where they saw Ulaz waiting for them.

“Ulaz!” Shiro exclaimed quickly approaching him. “We were worried something happened to you!”

Ulaz nodded in acknowledgement, “I thank you for the concern but there was no need. My gamble while successful does carry consequences I will likely remain here at the base until it is decided I am ready for field missions once again.” He told them before turning back to the screen where Keith was seen entering a training room. Lance didn't want to say it, he shouldn't say it, but-

“Keith looks really cute in that outfit.”

 _Dammit_.

Shiro gave him a look and Ulaz appeared confused at his words. Kolivan came up behind him along with Antok.

“It is a child’s armor, humans are much smaller than Galra and it is the only one that would fit.” He informed them as he stood beside Shiro to watch the proceedings.

“I’m so going to make of him for that when he gets out.” Lance said seriously.

“ _If_ he gets out.” Antok said, probably just to be _that_ guy.

“You don't know Keith like I do ol’ Texas toast down there can hold out like a champ.” Lance knew this and used it reassure himself as a Marmora member was raised onto the training deck.

“Keith’s from Texas?” Shiro asked incredulously.

“Yeah, it’s kinda obvious from how he calls refrigerators ‘iceboxes’ and also he told me.” Lance added quickly.

What followed was a harsh beat down, Lance winced every time Keith got hit and at one point let out a distressed whine after a particularly bad shot. Keith was limping to cross each door as the amount of members steadily increased. Finally at one of the rooms Lance recognized the glint in Keith's eyes, he had a plan.

Moving swiftly he threw his knife to the closing floor pad and expertly dodged before jumping into the opening, leaving the members alone on the deck.

Lance let out a breath of relief but immediately sucked it back in when Keith arrived in another part of the deck, swaying side to side before collapsing. A movement from the corner of the screen caught his attention, a clone of himself was steadily approaching the fallen Keith.

“What is that?” Lance asked.

“The suit can reflect the wearer's deepest fears and desires and currently he desperately wants to see you.”

Lance’s heart lurched at the words, flipping back to see Keith being helped up by fake him who was pleading with him to stop the trials.

“I can’t Lance. This knife-it's the only way I can find out who I am!”

“At the cost of your life?” Other Lance demanded. “What about us? What about me? Don't you want to stay together?”

“Of course I do!” Keith responded, his face creased in alarm.

“You sure have a funny way of showing it.” Other Lance scoffed.

“Lance...please.” Keith whispered. Other Lance glared at him.

“Give them the knife Keith.”

“I can’t.” Keith whispered sadly, looking away from Other Lance.

Other Lance's eyes filled with tears, his face twisted in hurt. “So this is how it is then?”

“No! Lance just listen!-”  Keith said quickly.

Other Lance turned his back to Keith and began to walk away, his shoulders shaking. “I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for fighter pilot.” He said brokenly.

Keith’s shaky legs tried to chase after him, calling Lance's name, his voice filled with desperation, tears streaming down his cheeks as he pleaded for Lance to come back. Lance who was watching felt a ball of emotion form in his throat at the sight.

“End the simulation.” Lance demanded.

“Knowledge or death.” Kolivan simply responded, Lance may have been semi-okay with this at one point but now he was just angry.

“That was not the deal!” Lance shrieked, finally losing all sense of respect. “You said “ _should you survive”_ , Keith did your trials, he received your beatings, and played by your rules! End the simulation!” Lance shouted getting into Kolivan’s space before Antok got the chance to grab him. Kolivan easily towered over him, his mask glaring down at Lance who met him head on.

“I. Said. End. The. Simulation.” Lance spit out, he was done holding up pretenses.

“He can stop it whenever he wants.”

“Enough of your bullshit Kolivan! End it or I swear I’m going to-” Lance was cut off by the sudden rocking of the base. Red was attacking, he could distantly hear her screams for her paladin in his ear.

The rocking was enough to distract everyone else, Lance immediately slipped past them, racing to get to Keith. Lance called on Blue to try to calm Red while he fixed the matter, he felt her try to soothe Red who refused to listen, they needed Keith to calm her down, Lance and Red had gotten along well enough since he had been forced to pilot her a handful of times but they were by no means as close as her and Keith. Lance finally arrived at the room and slid to Keith's side who was beginning to rise. The rumbling had gotten much fiercer.

“Keith you need to stop Red!” Lance yelled.

“Wha-?”

“Stop!” Antok’s voice sounded behind them. They both turned to see Shiro and the others running in. Lance scowled at them.

“Get outta my way! I’m taking Keith back to the castle he needs a healing pod and unless you want Red to raze this place to the ground you’ll listen.”

“Not without the blade, it is not yours! You have failed to awaken it!” Kolivan responded.

“It belongs to Keith!” Lance yelled back.

“Wait.” Keith said removing himself from Lance’s grasp. “Take the knife.” He said holding it out to them.

“But Keith!” Lance protested. Keith turned back to him.

“It's like you said we need each other and if it costs some knife then fine, who needs it when I still have you?” Keith said sincerely, Lance choked on his breath and stared back at Keith adoringly. A sudden purple light caused them both to close their eyes. Once the brightness died down in Keith's hand was the familiar shifted Marmora blade that Keith had fought and trained with for years.

“You’ve awoken the blade.” Kolivan said in astonishment. “That can only mean that you have Galra blood in your veins.”

Keith’s eyes widened in shock at the declaration, but Lance also recognized another emotion. Fear.

XxX

Kolivan rode back to the castle with them in Red who had calmed down once she caught sight of Keith limping back outside alongside Lance, Shiro, and Kolivan. The ride was silent only interrupted when Shiro informed the Princess that they were arriving. Upon landing in the Red Lion’s hanger, Lance all but dragged Keith to a healing pod, leaving Shiro and Kolivan behind to explain what had occurred.

“Lance?” Keith murmured. Lance grunted as they entered the med bay.

“About what they said about me being Galra I-”

“I don't care.” Lance whispered, reaching his hand out to cup Keith's cheek, who stared at him with wide eyes. “You’re still my mullet-haired Keith, Galra or not this changes nothing about how I feel about you.” Lance said as he let his forehead rest against Keith’s. Keith's breath’s were coming out harshly, brushing against Lance's lips. Lance slowly tilted his head to the side, leaning forward carefully, and smiling when Keith’s breath hitched, he pressed his lips gently to Keith’s slightly chapped ones, savoring the feeling, it was only peck, incredibly innocent and lasting just a few seconds but Lance would treasure it forever. Pulling away gently, Lance let his forehead rest on Keith’s for a little longer before backing away and leading him into the pod. Keith’s face was bright red, his pupils dilated and Lance smiled gently at him.

“I’ll be right here when you get out.” Lance promised. Keith nodded slowly and closed his eyes as the pod powered up. Lance watched his tense form slump down and fall to the medically induced sleep. He wasn't leaving until he knew Keith was fine.

XxX

Lance had been in the med bay for a number of hours before he heard the doors hiss open. Footsteps approached him from behind, he vaguely recognized them but didn't care enough to turn around.

“Is the Red paladin well?” Kolivan’s voice filled the silent room. Lance nodded slightly.

“He’s doing better, should be out by morning” Lance reported, his eyes never leaving Keith’s sleeping form.

“...I have a question for you.” Kolivan informed him. Lance nodded absently again.

“Well fire away my dude, and if you're going to ask for an apology then that's a ‘No’ because you were kinda being a dick back there.”

“It’s not that, there is something else that has been plaguing me.”

“Alright well then go ahead, I’m all ears.” Lance said tiredly.

“How did you know my name.” Kolivan’s voice was so cold Lance immediately straightened up.

“What?” Lance asked carefully.

“Back at the base you said “ _enough of your bullshit Kolivan”,_ I never gave you my name.” He said severely.

“U-Ulaz told us back when we were-”

“Lies! I already interrogated Ulaz, he never mentioned another member by name” Kolivan hissed, quickly approaching Lance who was cursing himself for the slip-up.

“I despise deceit, so I will ask once more. How. Did .You. Know. My. Name.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there are these two kids from texas in my grade who call fridge's 'ice boxes' and when i asked they said that it was what everyone in texas called them which i thought was cute(scratch that, its prob a regional thing for one of them and a "let's mess with Eddie and she what shit she'll believe" for the other one). And finally we have that forshadowing from earlier finally coming into play, i gotta admit writing this last bit had to be my favorite so far.


	10. when yo plans go wrong so you gotta finesse it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some things go wrong, some things go right, some things go really wrong.

Of all the fucking people he could've messed up in front of, it had to be Kolivan, literally the most paranoid person (excluding Slav) that Lance had ever met. Now Lance wasn't expecting to keep the whole, _whatever_ this was, to himself _forever_ but he was certainly hoping he'd be able to keep it on the down low for at least until things had mostly blown over and the hard stuff was finished. But no, a lot of- if not _all_ of Lance's careful planning would go to waste if he didn't fix this _right fucking now._

Kolivan was steadily approaching him with a terrifyingly blank expression, his eyes were hard and his lips were pursed. Lance had never seen Kolivan look this stressed, at least not since there were some minor Galra uprisings by radical extremists. By gazing into his cold eyes that were lined with uncertainty, it finally hit Lance that Kolivan was _afraid_ of him. Afraid of how much he knew and what he would do with that information, the Blade of Marmora was the closest thing he and the other members had to family. After abandoning their old identities if they were new members or growing up on various bases-Marmora was all Kolivan _knew_ , all he _had_. Lance could sympathize with a guy like that.

Lance released the tension of his shoulders and sighed deeply. Kolivan stopped in front of him, watching him with calculating eyes.

“I don't want you to lose trust in me or Voltron for what I’m about to tell you.” Lance said carefully. Kolivan didn't relax, Lance didn't blame him.

“The others don't know that I know who you and the others are and I’d like to keep it that way.” Lance confessed.

“And why would I help you to deceive the rest of Voltron? Who are you?” Kolivan growled. Lance froze at the question. _Who was he? He's Lance that's for sure, but not really. He's not really Lance. Or is he? No! He is, just not the same one! He’s still-_

“Lance. I’m Lance.” He whispered.

“What?” Kolivan asked, having strained to hear what Lance said.

“It's nothing.” Lance said. “What really matters is what I’m doing and how you’re going to help me.”

“Why would I ally myself with you when you’ve already proven yourself to be a liar?”

Lance winced at the harsh words. “Because what I said back at the base was true. I want Zarkon gone-for what he did to Allura and Coran, to Shiro, to Shay’s family, to the planets under his control, and to you.” Lance said with finality. “We need to work together. Both of us. We have experience in working from the shadows and that's what I’ve been doing since this whole thing started. But there's only so much I can do while with the rest of Voltron.” Lance explained.

“And what is your reasoning behind keeping them in the dark about your current actions?” Kolivan interrogated.

“It's not a permanent thing! I will tell them about what I’ve been doing, but the time isn't right. You should know better than anyone that sometimes withholding information is the best thing a person can do for the good of others. The Blade of Marmora is based on trust and sometimes that means that the other Blades need to _trust_ that you’ll make the right call. This is not so different from that.” Lance assured. Kolivan remained silent, still watching him warily.

“You still have not answered the question of how you knew my name.”

Lance closed his eyes and began to mentally prepare himself for what he was going to say. Kolivan would be the first person other than Blue to know about who Lance really was and this fact did nothing to relieve the tension in his stomach. He had to address this carefully and logically, make sure that he didn't freak out-

“I’m Marty McFly.” He blurted out. _‘Fuck’_

Kolivan scrunched his nose in confusion. “Wha-?”

“I’m the cute boy that inadvertently gets sent back in time. And yes I know that the movie is like _super old_ but my great-grandpa loved it and had a copy converted into our holoscreen at home so I watched it growing up and now that I think about it no one today would've gotten the reference unless they were growing up in like the 90’s, at the latest, which I know was a _long_ time ago, but-”

“Stop.” Kolivan ordered. Lance immediately cut off his nervous rambling and stared ahead at Kolivan who looked like he was seeing Lance in a new light.

“Did you just say you're a _time traveler_?” Kolivan asked, disbelievingly.

“Yeah?”

“Are you asking me or telling me.”

_Oh for the love of god._

“Telling you. I’m telling you.” Lance sighed. Kolivan frowned at him unsurely.

“Slav has mentioned the existence of parallel universes several times, when I brought up time travel to him once and he immediately declined-he believed the possibilities of changing the past were too dangerous and wildly different, enough so that there are just as many bad futures as there are good ones. So by basing my logic on what I know….are you here...because we fail?” Kolivan said tensely. Lance immediately began to shake his head.

“No no no no no no,” he babbled. “It's not that bad, thankfully things didn't get to be that bad, but... it was hollow ya know?” Lance said quietly. “Sure we won, but we lost so much too. There are so many things we could've done, and for the most part I had grown to...accept things as they were….But then this happened.” Lance said gesturing to himself.

“Somehow, I’m back in the past. Everything I’ve worked to build is gone, and-” Lance stopped,”-and I’m alone.” He whispered. “But this is a chance! Not just for me, but for everyone! Ulaz died last time!” Lance spit out. Kolivan tensed in front of him.

“Him, and Thace, and Antok. They gave their lives for _us_! They wouldn't have had to if things were fair! Zarkon's got 10,000 years worth of experience and is backed by countless soldiers, sentries, druids, and warships!” Lance shouted. “The playing field is nowhere near level and I’ve been working to change it! But it's not fair that we're still fighting at such a disadvantage!” Lance said in frustration before taking a slow, shaky breath.

“But not anymore.” Lance vowed. “Zarkon's not going to keep getting away with it. I won't let him.” He hissed. Kolivan stood in front of him, appraisingly.

“Then it seems as though we both follow the same goal.” Kolivan noted. Lance nodded at him. The two watched the other with careful eyes, waiting to see if the other would speak more.

“You know, you and me become friends.” Lance offered.

“Do we?” Kolivan asked curiously.

“Yeah. You were a guest of honor at my wedding, the whole Blade showed up to show their support for Keith.”

At that Kolivan frowned.

“The halfling?”He asked motioning towards Keith's pod.

“Blades are family, you said so yourself.” Lance defended. Kolivan nodded slowly in understanding.

“That does sound like something I would say.” He murmured. “So we worked together often? I cannot imagine how, Princess Allura of Altea does not appear to find my presence welcoming.”

“Allura hasn't had much time to heal, we were all thrown into this war unexpectedly, and I’m not trying to excuse her behavior, but she's hurting. She knows what she's doing is wrong deep inside and she will apologize because this honestly isn't how she is but I guess for now we're just trying to help her work through it. So just hold on for a little longer, these things always seem bad at first.” Lance assured. Kolivan released a loud breath of air from his nose and sat on one of the nearby steps by the pods.

“I did not expect things to turn complicated so suddenly.” He sighed.

“You and me both pal.” Lance murmured. The whooshing of a pod entered Lance's ears and he immediately turned to see Keith carefully stepping out of the pod. He wasn't as tired looking as when he stepped out of the pod from the explosion on Arus but he did look disoriented. Lance quickly approached him and offered his arms as a support for Keith's stumbling body. Keith offered him a grateful smile and tightly gripped his arms, using them to right himself.

"How long was I in there for?" He croaked out.

"About a night. You had some serious bruising and a fracture on your arm." Lance explained as Keith straitened up and took a tentative step forward on his own.

"And everyone else?" He asked looking around curiously, freezing when he saw Kolivan watching them both inquisitively. Lance turned to see where he was looking.

"Keith, you've met Kolivan." Lance said reintroducing them. Keith nodded before stopping.

"Yeah. Ummm....Hi?" Keith said quietly. Kolivan nodded to him in acknowledgement.

"We were talking while you were in the pod, he's a nice guy, you know if excuse the fact that he beat you into the ground."

"He did not _beat_ me into the ground." Keith grit out. Lance nodded in agreement.

"You're right I'm sure all those scrapes of yours were all purposefully attained."

"You're so-ugh." Keith groaned as he pushed Lance away, running his hands through his hair before turning back to face him with uncertain eyes.

"...Do the others know about...me?" Keith whispered to him. His voice cracked at the question and Lance felt his eyes harden at how vulnerable Keith looked.

"I didn't stick around long enough to find out," Lance explained,"but Shiro probably didn't tell them. He might want you to do it when you're ready." Lance soothed. Keith gave a shaky sigh and mumbled something Lance couldn't hear.

"What?" Lance asked gently.

"I said that I need sometime to think, I don't know how to do it without someone getting hurt." Keith said tensely.

"Keith," Lance said, approaching him, "you don't have to do it by yourself, I'm here and so is Shiro, we won't leave you to do this by yourself."  
Keith's eyes shut tightly and his face twisted in anxiety.

"I appreciate it. But I'd really rather do this on my own." Keith said quietly, his eyes glassy as he turned to look at Lance. Lance nodded and reluctantly backed off but was stopped when Keith tightly gripped his wrist. Lance looked to Keith for an explanation and was met with the sight of him flushing brightly and looking at his face with intense focus.

“Wha-?” Lance’s question was immediately cut off when Keith rushed forward and crashed their lips together, Lance let out a moan of pain when their front teeth knocked together, grunting into Keith's mouth, who quickly backed off and ran away from the medbay with tensed shoulders and no explanation. Lance lifted a hand to press against his mouth and smiled slightly, ahhh Keith Kogane there was a reason he loved him so much and his surprise expressions of affection were definitely one of the reasons.

Despite Lance's happiness at seeing Keith making a move on him he was still worried about him. Keith was a complex individual, sometimes he wished for companionship and other times he didn't. Sometimes he said he didn't need help but he did and Lance hoped this was not one of those times, he wanted to respect Keith's current wishes but he still threw himself into concern over him. Keith was scared, but he wasn't alone and Lance hoped he knew that.

"You care deeply about him." Kolivan noted, interrupting his thoughts. Lance nodded, temporarily forgetting he had been in the room with them the entire time.

"Yeah, now you see why I'm fighting against Zarkon. I don't want any of them to get hurt," Lance confided, "and you're the same. So do we have an understanding?"  
Kolivan remained silent, the air thickening in anticipation as Lance awaited his response. "We do." He finally said. Lance heard steps coming up behind him.

"But in order for this partnership to work, you cannot hide secrets from me. I shall be your sole confidante until you reveal yourself and in exchange for keeping this secret I only require that you tell me exactly what you know."  
Lance hesitated, the terms sounded agreeable but there was always the possibility for things to go wrong.

"Alright. But only if you tell me if you're going to act on anything that I tell you beforehand. Trust is a two way street Kallie."

Kolivan frowned, "My name is Kolivan but yes, I also find your terms to be reasonable."

Lance turned to face him, Kolivan had a scar running through one of his eyes, his face seemed permanently set into a frown. But Lance could see the stress in his eyes, the uncertainty of his his gaze. He obviously wasn't certain of this new arrangement, but then again neither was Lance. Lance offered his palm for a handshake, Kolivan grasped it tightly, the two of them while unsure still hoped it wouldn't end in disaster.

They really hoped it wouldn't.

XxX

Kolivan and Lance didn't spend anymore time together than they did with the others so as to not raise suspicion, over the course of the next few days several Marmora members had boarded the castle ship, including Ulaz despite being under house arrest.

Keith had held a private meeting with all the paladins, Allura, and Coran; Lance standing nearby to offer support the entire time. Allura had stayed in place and listened quietly as Keith had carefully explained what had happened on the Blade of Marmora base and the information that had been discovered about his lineage. Lance had been desperately hoping that Allura would still offer support to Keith, she’d been getting better- with Lance's interference and extended exposure to Ulaz she was significantly less distrustful towards that Blade than she had been the first time.

Lance was not disappointed.

Allura offered Keith a slightly uncomfortable looking hug, but she didn't walk away this time. She didn't ignore Keith. She was setting aside her distrust _for Keith_ ’ _s sake._

Lance couldn't be happier and eagerly joined the hug, ignoring the squawks of surprise from both parties.

XxX

“Is there any solid reasoning you can offer me to push back presenting my final plan to defeat Zarkon to the Princess.” Kolivan asked curiously. Surprisingly the two of them had smooth and easy conversations with little to no conflict...which wasn't that surprising if Lance really thought about it, they had gotten along well enough, they'd simply never interacted on a one on one basis. Kolivan eagerly listened to Lance's suggestions such as not allowing for Slav to roam freely without an escort and informing the various agents on military bases to enter observation mode and not take any action, Lance didn't want to risk Thace’s life again. In exchange for the advice Kolivan offered to discuss the different aspects of Galra culture to Keith, who had never given himself the opportunity to learn more the first time around. Keith didn't show it but he was happy every time Kolivan or another Marmora member told him about the different Galra holidays, traditions, foods, and stories. Lance was happy seeing Keith happy.

“It's not right yet, the Olkari are the only ones who can build the giant teleduv and they remain under control of the Galra right now.  But more than that, we need to win over the Galra populace before taking on Zarkon.” Lance explained.

“Why not focus on the task at hand and do damage control later on?” Kolivan asked, confused. To Lance and everyone else it was a good strategy, but there had been one thing they didn't account for the first time.

“Zarkon's got a tighter grip on the Galra than you may think, their love for him is like a _‘1984’_ level of creepy.”

Kolivan sighed in exasperation, “Lance for the last time I do not understand your human references.”

“What it means is that Zarkon's been spreading propaganda about himself for the entire duration of the average Galra citizen’s life, in schools, in advertisement, on entertainment channels, movies, posters, books-Zarkon's got it all down! To remain unchallenged when he's gone and make sure none of his generals or Haggar pick up his mantel we need the Galra population on _our_ side,”

Kolivan considered his words. “How will we even accomplish that, they won't take my word for it. I may be Galra but the second they hear ‘rebel’ they will mark me a traitor. And you're a paladin they will do the same to you...could the Princess do it?” He suggested.

Lance immediately shook his head,”You were a legacy of the Blade but if you asked someone who had grown up attending Galra schools you'd be able to see the way they manipulated history, in their minds the Alteans were a savage race of people that Zarkon exterminated long ago. They don't know what really happened.” Lance whispered. He had never seen Allura so angry as when she realized what Zarkon had done to the memory of her planet and people. It took Shiro, Hunk, and Coran days to talk her down, and Lance had never been so terrified of someone, probably never will.

“Then how will we accomplish this?” Kolivan asked, at a loss.

“Simple. We’re going to get help from the only other person in the Empire the Galra will listen to.”

“And that is whom?”

“Lotor.” As soon as he said that Kolivan stopped all movement, his eyes widened in shock.

“Lotor? The _son_ of the man we are planning to assassinate?” He asked incredulously.

“Welllllll when you say it like _that_ it does sound pretty stupid, but Lotor’s a good person...he's just lost.” Lance advised. “I managed to plant doubt in his mind, I gave him photographic evidence about the things that Zarkon's been hiding, slave colonies and gladiator rings. But it might not have been enough- my informants Nyma and Rolo haven't said anything so I think it's safe to assume that he needs a nudge. Seeking him out again is too risky for me but-”

“But I can contact soldiers within the army to request a transfer for Prince Lotor’s guard.” Kolivan finished, his face not hiding the stunned realization he made. Lance nodded affirmatively. Kolivan looked down at him, his face breaking into a slight smile. Lance was surprised but refused to show it, Keith had always felt defensive when people reacted astonished to his happiness and maybe Kolivan was the same.

“I think we could actually win this better than I originally imagined.” He breathed out. Lance smiled up at him, Kolivan wanted to see his people freed from a tyrant- a dream that he had spent years fighting for, one that had taken brothers and sisters in arms from him. And now it looked like it was finally coming to fruition.

“The Galra are not a bad race,” Lance assured, just expunge any lingering doubts about Lotor and the plan “,it's sad what Zarkon is doing to them. They don't deserve it.” Lance whispered sympathetically. Kolivan nodded in agreement.

“I have a few agents that are low enough to be transferred to Lotor’s guard, no questions asked. It is not a position with much prestige for those in the military.” Kolivan informed him and Lance nodded seriously. The two walked together for a little longer before splitting off, Kolivan to send a message in private and Lance to visit Keith who had been spending more time on the training deck with his Marmora blade. Lance felt that for once, it seemed like things were finally going his way.

XxX

The following days were filled by doing drills with the Blade, commencing attacks on Galra colonies that had lit up distress beacons and strategizing their following moves. Lance didn’t want his work to go to waste too soon by slipping up again so he had been paying more attention to his words lately. So far no one seemed to be noticing a difference.

Zarkon was almost entirely off their tail due to Shiro’s repeated strengthening of his bond, Lance hoped it would be strong enough to withstand Zarkon’s death. Lance doesn’t know how he would handle it if Shiro was ripped away from them like last time, it had been hard enough the first time. Due to the Black Lion’s status as having two recognized pilots- Zarkon's death led to Shiro being physically ripped away while Zarkon was spiritually ripped away. It had taken them forever to get Shiro back, and Shiro never told them what he experienced or what he witnessed, but he was never the same after it. Lance still wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing.

“Lance!” Keith’s exclamation caught his attention and he quickly turned to see a smiling Keith approaching him. Lance couldn’t help but offer his own grin, meeting Keith halfway.

“Hey,” Lance greeted, Keith nodded at him, stopping less than a foot away.

“Hey,” Keith greeted back, “Hunk made some cookies from the stuff in the kitchen and wants us to try them and I figured you'd want in.”

“Are you kidding? I’m always ready some of Hunks homemade morsels of happiness!”

Keith nodded and grabbed his hand, intertwining their finger and leading him to the kitchen. Lance's heart fluttered in joy and he gladly followed after him.

For the most part things were calm, well _calm_ in the sense that they had been successfully gaining allies, freeing planets, and evading Zarkon. Team morale was high and Lance was letting himself relax slightly. But he’d be unable to put his guard down until the worst of the war had passed, and it had yet to happen. Peace times always slightly unnerved him, it reminded him of the Earth saying _‘the calm before the storm’_. And while Lance was the Blue paladin and ergo the Guardian of Water, he had always hated storms.

XxX

Lance made it a habit of visiting Blue every morning after breakfast, and checking to see if Nyma and Rolo were still doing fine at least once a week. Today had been no different.

Typing in the hailing number and waiting for someone to pick up, this time it was Beezer who, without even letting Lance greet them began beeping at various tones, making rapid movements back and forth. It was _excitement_ , Lance noted, allowing himself to slow his racing heart- for a single terrifying moment Lance had thought Beeper had been moving in distress. A swift movement came into view and Nyma set herself down and watched Lance with a barely concealed grin, pink eyes shining brightly.

“Hey Nye.” Lance greeted calmly, offering a gentle smile.

“We found them!” Nyma burst out, a smile taking up half her face as she trembled in happiness.

“We found one your humans and we found Rolo’s father! If he’s still alive then there’s a chance for mine too! I had thought, that-that-that-” She stumbled over her words, her hands shaking as she tried to verbalize what she was feeling.

“Nye, breath in and out.” Lance instructed, watching amusedly as she quickly took rapid breaths before speaking again.

“ _They’re still here Lance.”_ She breathed out, pink crystal colored tears gathering in her eyes. “For so long I didn’t let myself hope but they might still be here and if it weren’t for you... I might have never gotten this chance.” She said as her voice trembled, tears finally falling and staining her yellow skin. Lance smiled gently, the first time around Nyma and Rolo had never located hide or hair of their disappeared family members, for them every slave colony was just met with disappointment and maybe they had been too late as well. But this time it wasn’t, they had a chance now- a chance to retrieve something that Zarkon had taken from them. And Honestly Lance couldn’t be happier for them, smiling happily along with Beezer as Nyma happy-cried, babbling about how Rolo was such a mother hen, running around the refugee camp to make sure his dad was comfortable and that the human one they found, the one named Samuel was very weak but in high spirits.

Lance nodded along, patiently waiting for her to finish before anxiously posing his question.

“Nyma...is there anyway that I can talk to Samuel?” Lance asked hesitantly. Nyma stopped for a moment before making an affirmative sound, motioning Beezer forward and attaching various cables into his slots. Lance saw the screen blank out for a second before lighting up again, the scene of rushing throughout a line of tents met him. Beezer was making his way through the refugee camp at a rapid pace, from the looks of the set up it had be a camp established by the Rythue, a peaceful race of badger-like aliens that intensely resisted the Galra, their constantly moving planet helped with that fact. They were sympathetic and often staged their own small-scale prison breaks whenever they could and welcomed all with open arms.

Lance knew exactly where this particular camp was located having visited it several times to deliver medical supplies and assist in the relocation of former slaves that no longer had a home to return to. Lance was glad Sam ended up in good hands before it was too late.

Beezer finally arrived at one of the medical tents and rushed in, skidding to stop by the cot of a man whose face Lance had memorized long ago.

“Dr. Samuel Holt?” Lance asked carefully. Pidge’s father was laid down with a light blanket over him, medical dressings covering his arms and was startled at Lance's address to him turning to look at Beezer who likely had a communication screen on display. A soft smile broke out on Dr. Holt’s face.

“Well if it isn't the small robot that was with that kind pair of rescuers, and I see you brought a friend!” He exclaimed turning to look at Lance. Seeing Pidge's father alive did something to him, he shared in mourning over a man he had never met, but the pain of losing a parent was a pain he understood all too well, but to lose them the way Pidge had would have destroyed Lance. He felt tears begin to leak out of his eyes, his body trembling in Blue’s seat, nursed by Blue’s soft reassurances. Lance quickly worked to compose himself, it was very unlike him to become emotional so suddenly plus he was an ugly crier so he always tried not to do it in front of people.

Dr. Holt waited patiently for him to compose himself, not mentioning it when Lance removed his helmet and revealed his distinct human features in order to wipe away any remaining tears.

“Sorry, I don't know what came over me.” Lance sniffled.

“It's all fine. Though could I note that you look remarkably similar to Earthlings?”

“Heh, that's because I am from Earth,” Lance said noting the widening eyes of the Dr. Holt. “My name is Lance McClain and I used to go to the Garrison up until I was launched into space in a giant mechanical Lion, with the Pilot to the Kerberos mission Takashi Shirogane, former students Keith Kogane, Hunk Garrett, and Pidge Gunderson. Though you might know them better as Katie Holt.” Lance announced. Samuel sucked in a sharp breath.

“Katie? My Katie? Is she okay? Is she there? May I speak to her? What about my son Matthew? You said Shirogane was with you is Matt there as well?” Samuel rushed out, letting out a small cry when he tried to sit up.

“They kinda prefer Pidge nowadays and please don't aggravate your injuries!” Lance insisted, “ I will answer all your questions but I need you to calm down and loosen the tension in your muscles or else you could strain yourself further” Lance instructed. Dr. Holt nodded in understanding, not saying anything and instead releasing an occasional pained huff. He slowly let out a shaky breath before taking deep, measured gulps of air.

“Alright. Pidge is here, they're safe but can't talk right now, you will reunite with them soon though I promise. As for your son Matthew, I am unsure of his current condition but it’s likely we will locate him soon.” That last part was true, from Lance's quick math they still had a few months before his death according to death certificates typed and cataloged by the sentries.

“My Pidge, in space. Who would've guessed.” Samuel mused.

“I’m not surprised. They're really hard headed and stubborn, they had to get it from somewhere.” Lance offered. Samuel barked out a pained laugh.

“Oh I wish a percent of that fire came from me but it's all Colleen.” Samuel said sadly. “Ah Colleen, she's going to kill me for this. She used to be my lab partner back in middle school and she always had to be right, even when she was wrong.” He sighed sadly, a mournful expression overtook his face.

“I wonder if she's alright. With me, and Matt, and Pidge out here she must be so lonely with only Rover to keep her company.”

“Rover?” Lance asked. Sam nodded.

“Pidge's dog, brought him home one day and refused to let us take him to a shelter.” He said laughing slightly, though it sounded more sad than anything.

“Dr.Holt-” Lance began.

“It's Sam my boy, I suppose I have you to thank for my current predicament. You can call me Sam.” He said, smiling in Lance’s direction. Lance nodded.

“Sam, you’re currently in a refugee camp where you’ll be safe from Emperor Zarkon, the person responsible for your imprisonment. I wanted to ask you to remain there until you're better and Matt has been reunited with you. The Ryuthe can always use the help of a medical professional and scientist, and...they are also great counselors.” Lance said softly. He didn't know how deep Sam or Matt’s scar ran but he hoped to help them in any way he could, even if he couldn't be there personally for them. Sam nodded to his words and reached up to rub his eyes, brushing back his grey hair and closing his eyes in contemplation.

“That set up is certainly better than what I was doing before.” He murmured. He turned to face Lance again.

“Lance. Thank You. I don't know how long I would’ve lasted if it hadn't been for you and those two, what were their name? Ah Nyma and Rolo.” He breathed out, his eyes becoming steadily unfocused.

“You should sleep and eat something when you wake up.” Lance softly ordered as Sam drowsily nodded and fell back in the cot with a soft thump. It was silent for a moment longer before Lance was sure that Sam had been knocked out from his exhaustion.

“Okay Beezer I’m going to cut off the connection now, thanks. And tell Nyma I said thanks too.” Lance announced as he ended the call to the sound of Beezer’s farewell beeping.

Lance sat back in his chair, trying to absorb what just happened. Pidge's father was safe, he was _safe_.

Lance felt giddy and excited at the prospect of being able to tell Pidge that their family was alive and well but forced himself to calm down, he still had to figure out a way to tell the team.

Kolivan was one thing, they barely knew each other so there was no deep betrayal there, which is what Lance feared would appear when he told the rest of the team. He didn't want them to hate him, it was the last thing he wanted! He just wished he knew a way to make them understand the extent of what he'd been trying to do.

He just hoped they wouldn't hate him when he did.

XxX

Kolivan had appeared at the end of the hall after dinner a week after Lance got the news from Nyma. There was an urgent expression on his face. _‘And it looks like the other shoe has finally dropped’_ Lance thought as he quickly searched for the life forces of everyone on board and noted that they were all far away from him and Kolivan before rushing forward, his stomach already twisting in anticipation, his mind racing with all the possible things that could’ve gone wrong.

_Was it Slav? Zarkon? Haggar? Another unforeseen enemy? Did Lance miss something? Did he mess up? Oh god he messed up didn't he?_

“It's Lotor.” Kolivan breathed as Lance finally reached his side.

“He’s gone missing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you know that crippling feeling that somethings gonna go wrong? im suffrin bruh my AP teachers are all crackin down because exams are coming(they say overachievers hate themselves and...they aint wrong sooo) but don't worry i have the rest of the fic planned out in my head all i gotta do is put pen to paper so should be done before the beginning of May!


	11. every dog has his day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to everyone who wished me luck on my exams! i hope this chapter and the ones to come are enjoyable

Lance’s first reaction was to the flip the fuck out. The possibility that Lotor as kidnapped was out of the question, Galra soldiers and security was surprisingly tight and Lotor could hold his own in battle if it really came down to it. Leaving only one possibility.

Lotor had left on his own accord.

If Lotor had left the care of his guards and possibly gotten hurt then that was a shit situation that he had not considered the possibility of. _But then again_ , it also made complete sense, with what Lotor had likely been experiencing it made complete sense for him to want to run away and avoid the issue at hand. Lotor was still a teenager, practically a fetus and it was Lance's mistake in forcing all this information onto Lotor. He’d seen how Lotor had gone into denial at the Mall, seen his devastation, and then just _left_ him with unanswered questions and nothing else, not even contact info because he'd been scared of the _minuscule_ possibility Lotor would come after him (Lotor was a lot of things but he was no snitch). He’d only been thinking of the future and himself, and in doing so had likely hurt him. Hurt him enough to leave the safety of his money and his home. Lance had been selfish.

“You’re sure the guards say he's gone? He’s never run off before?” Lance asked quickly as Kolivan shook his head.

“They had landed on the Planet of Fruye to pick up a line of clothing Lotor had commissioned for himself, the next morning he was gone, Zarkon has not ordered for a search to be commenced so It's likely he will not care until the people do.” Kolivan reported.

This was bad.

Lotor was by himself in who knows what sort of state in who knows where. And it was All. His. Fault. He pushed too hard, didn't consider Lotor's feelings, only thought about Allura, Shiro, Coran, Hunk, Pidge, Keith, the Blade of Marmora, Earth, Shay, the Balmerans….the situation had only turned out this way because of Lance. He treated Lotor the same way he treated the paladins in the beginning, with expectations. Lotor had been sheltered most of his life, forced into ignorance the same as every other citizen. And what did Lance do? He confronted Lotor and laid down some heavy shit and didn't stuck around or make a safety net for Lotor's likely fragile state of mind. He was still a kid! Lance was the adult in the situation, he should’ve been more careful.

With the way the team was now he didn't want to just up and leave. They were finally becoming closer! Shiro was more open, Pidge talked to them more than they did at the Garrison, Hunk was happy, and Keith...Keith was smiling. He couldn't just leave. Not now….but maybe Kolivan’s men could search for Lotor? If Lotor took the holo drive with him Lance could probably track down its location using the Blue Lion’s signature he tacked on at the last minute. His hacking skills were super rusty, he hadn't had a need for them in years and even then Pidge was the one who did most of it, and if they couldn't then Hunk would, and if he couldn't then Lance could do a decent job but still, it had been several years. And it's not like he could just ask Pidge in this situation.

And what would he even say to Lotor if he found him? _‘I’m sorry I shattered your reality please come back and help me fight against your dick of a father?’_

Yeah that probably wouldn't work out too well.

Lance turned to face Kolivan, prepared to voice his request but stopped when he saw Kolivan's uncertain face. Of course...Kolivan and the Blade had survived for so long by playing it safe. Losing Lotor while he was on his watch was probably a devastating blow. Sometimes Lance forgot that people like Kolivan, Shiro, and Allura were just like everyone else. They had doubts. They felt unsure. They questioned themselves. And with that thought in mind Lance let his mouth click shut.

No. He couldn't put this on Kolivan. This was his mistake and he was the one who had to fix it. But that doesn't mean he’d have to go into it alone this time.

“Kolivan do you think that you could convince Allura to send me on a mission?”

XxX

“I just don't get why Lance has to be the one to go!” Keith yelled in frustration as Lance tried (and failed) to calm him down from his anger.

“It is just as I said before. The Blue Lion is suited for water and that is what the majority of the planet will be covered in. And I would never send the Blue paladin on a dangerous mission but the Blades on that base have not responded to my communication attempts. I simply want to see that there is no issues.” Kolivan calmly responded.

“Well then why can't Antok go!” Keith said gesturing to the only other Galra in the room, standing with his arms crossed a few paces behind Kolivan. Antok raised an eyebrow at Keith but didn't say anything.

“Antok’s place is by my side. I wouldn't ask this if I had any other choice.” Kolivan responded, turning to face Allura who watched him with a creased forehead. She wasn't warm towards Kolivan and the other Blades per se but she certainly wasn't hostile and was at least willing to offer them her attention when they deemed it important.

“If you deem it of value then I suppose that we can.” She spoke hesitantly. “Though I think someone else should go with Lance.” She added.

“I’ll go.” Keith immediately volunteered just as Lance called out a resounding “No.” Surprised faces all turned to face him.

“Lance?” Keith asked, his eyes hurt and confused. Lance immediately softened his expression and offered him a sheepish smile.

“It's not that I don’t want your help,” Lance assured Keith, “,it's just that I don’t think we should spread our limited forces so thinly at a time where every person counts. If something happens I can radio back and I’ll know you guys have my back but other than that, sending out multiple people for a simple reconnaissance mission seems a bit like overkill to me.” Lance pointed out. He always had a way with words and directing conversations in the way he wanted them to go, but had never found a use for it until he became the team diplomat and apparently for his current situation. Lance saw the clear hesitation in the way Keith bit his lip and clenched his hands into fists, Lance immediately moved forward to stand less than a hair’s breadth away from him.

“I’ll be back before you even know I was missing. Everything's going to be fine.” Or at least Lance hoped it would. Keith didn't seem entirely convinced but slowly nodded his head in acceptance before surging forward and pressing against Lance’s body to whisper in his ear.

“If you die and break my heart I’ll kick your ass so hard.” He swore. Lance giggled lightly at the feeling of Keith's hot breath tickling his ear and smiled happily at his own words being repeated back to him.

“That's not the only thing you can do to my ass but I humbly accept your loving words.” Lance whispered back, quickly planting a peck on the side of Keith's mouth before bouncing away to head in the direction of Blue’s hanger. He heard Keith's surprised sputtering behind him, Shiro's teasing “awwww”, and Pidge's demands to know what was said. Lance let a hollow chuckle escape him as he heard a shout of ‘good luck!’ from both Hunk and Coran. All he had to do was fix things with Lotor, build a bridge between them and all that good stuff. It was _doable_ , but the main concern wasn't just Lotor anymore it was to come back in one piece too.

XxX

According to the map that Blue had provided, Lotor had hidden himself away (thankfully with the holo drive)in a very quiet and isolated part of the galaxy, a pod travel away from a well used intergalactic highway. There wasn't anything of importance among the small planets that scattered the area. It was mainly inhabited by gentle, plant eating animals (one of whom was Pidge’s favorite, a miniature Buffalo like animal that moved at a such a slow pace that moss and small flowers grew on its fur). Why Lotor had chosen _this_ as his hiding spot, Lance had yet to find out. But hopefully it would be soon.

He maneuvered Blue to the small, rocky planet the signal was coming from and quickly unmounted while urging Blue to raise her particle barrier. Blue’s echolocation feature didn't imply that anything but the wildlife and Lotor were on planet but her echo was typically more useful underwater and one could never be too careful.

Lance carefully jumped down onto the parched ground and began to follow the signal’s strength through his gauntlet. Lotor was only a few doboshes from where he parked Blue which made locating him easier, but then came the hard part.

Lotor was sitting on the edge of a rock formation, idly swinging his legs back and forth, and looking up at the approaching night sky occasionally, as if expecting something. Lance quietly approached and stood at the base of the formation, clearing his throat loudly. Lotor jumped slightly at the sound and gazed down at him curiously, his yellow eyes squinting at him slightly.

“Who are you? This planet is supposed to be uninhabited.” He said sniffing slightly, crossing his legs and turning his nose up at Lance as if he _owned_ the said uninhabited planet. _Honestly Lotor._ Lance mentally sighed.

Without responding, Lance reached up to grasp his helmet and pulled it off, using one hand to smooth down his hair slightly and looking up at Lotor, waiting for his reaction. He was not disappointed.

Lotor immediately uncrossed his legs and scrambled away from the edge in order to stand up.

“You!” He yelled, pointing a sharp finger down at Lance. Lotor's stance was tensed and he subtly tried to pat his body as though searching for a weapon, which Lance knows he didn't have. Lotor hated the extra weight and would prefer to stand and look pretty during a fight even though he could go toe to toe with Allura _and_ Shiro if he wanted.

“I just want to talk.” Lance soothed as Lotor paced on top of the formation, eyeing Lance anxiously.

“No!” Lotor immediately responded. “I’m done listening to you! All you've done is feed me lies and deceit! But now I’m about to prove you wrong!” He shouted down at Lance whilst pointing at the sky. Lance looked up in confusion, following Lotor's finger, but saw nothing but the slowly darkening sky of the planet.

“With what?” Lance asked carefully. Lotor grinned smugly.

“You said my father cared for no one but himself but you’ll see! He's going to have a fleet searching for me anytime now!” He said triumphantly, but Lance still managed to hear a tinge of doubt in his voice. Lance winced in sympathy at the words, Lance knew that Zarkon had not sent out a search request and seeing Lotor like this… a slight desperate gleam in his eyes- chewed at his heart in manner that he hadn't felt since he'd last seen his grandchildren. Lotor was still a child in Galra years and yet here he was...all alone...waiting for, hoping for his dad to rescue him. It made Lance feel like crap.

“Lotor...how long have you been out here?” Lance asked softly. When dealing with scared children one must always use a gentle hand, and right now this is what Lotor needed, not the cruel Lance he had shown him before. Lotor turned his back to Lance before answering.

“Only a few vagas.” Lotor responded absently. Even without having the prior knowledge Lance knew that was a lie. Lotor's hair looked like a bird’s nest, his braid had pieces of white hair sticking out of place, his ponytail was loose, his white bodysuit was covered in dust, and if Lance listened hard enough he could hear the occasional groan of his stomach meaning that he hadn't eaten in at least a few days. None of the Blades mentioned if Lotor had eaten before leaving but from what Lance had gathered he likely hadn’t. Luckily he always kept a few Altean military rations in Blue so when they left the planet together ( _and they would be leaving together_ ) he could offer them as another peace offering.

“You got that dirty from standing around for a few vagas?” Lance asked in a not quite accusational tone. Lotor froze in his pacing and had yet to turn around.

“....I sat down sometimes too.” He offered as some sort of weak defense. Lance sighed and activated his jet pack, using the boost to quickly scale the formation, Lotor whipped around at the sound and watched him uneasily as he climbed onto the same ledge.

Lance stood across from him, not moving towards him so he wouldn't be threatened. He had dealt with this multiple times before, orphaned children that still did not comprehend that their parents were not coming back. Lotor wasn't an orphan but his suffering was just the same.

“Lotor...it's been days. I know you’ve been out here for days….he’s not coming.”

Lotor bristled and Lance immediately lifted his hands to show that he meant no harm.

“I told you that he is! He just needs time to find me that's all!”

“If that were true don't you think he'd have found you by now? If not with basic scanners than with his druids?” Lance carefully reasoned. Lotor's shoulders began to shake slightly.

“He just needs time!” He screamed, his yellow eyes were glistening slightly. Lance shook his head, his face creased in sympathy for this poor boy and the pain he was enduring because of Lance.

“He’s not coming...you always knew that. But you came here anyway hoping that maybe….he might. But Lotor he’s _not_ coming.” It was better to rip off the bandaid now, no point in dragging out the pain. Tiny trails of crystal tears began streaming down Lotor's face, but he didn't cry. He just numbly stood still and allowed for the tears to run down the sides of his purple cheeks. His knees began to tremble and he allowed himself to slump down to the ground. Lance silently and carefully approached him, kneeling down in front of his defeated body. Soft sniffles were coming from him, but still he didn't look up.

“W-why?” Lotor whispered softly. Lance didn't know how to respond. This wasn't just about getting a Prince to overthrow an Emperor, it was about getting a son to stand against his father and Lance felt sorry that he hadn't truly realized it sooner.

“I don't know.” Lance answered honestly. Lotor's shoulders shook more violently and Lance gently reached out to pull him into a careful hug. Lotor slumped into him with no resistance, Lance knew it wasn't because he was accepting the comfort, it was because he didn't care.

Lance gently stroked Lotor's hair and silently marveled at the smooth texture. Comforting someone...at least that was one thing he could do without messing up. The two sat together in a pile of limbs, one crying and the other trying not to. They sat on top of a rocky formation until the sun of the planet finally set, blanketing them both in a sky full of twinkling stars.

XxX

The first thing that Lance learnt about Lotor after his tears had dried up was that he could play jump rope with the five stages of grief. Alternating between denial, anger, rationalization, depression, and acceptance several times in only a few doboshes. Currently he appeared to have settled on anger. Both at Zarkon _and_ Lance.

“You know my dad never told me that he loved me.” Lotor spit out. “I don’t think he's ever told me that he _likes_ me.” He continued.

“But _you_ on the other hand, only messed up my life! I was fine before you came along! I was happy! But then what happens?! Oh that's right! I lose my mind and run away to some deserted planet with no food or water and-will you look at my hair!” He screeched, pointing at a mat of white locks. Lance winced slightly and stood without comment as Lotor screeched about his clothes and his hair while occasionally clenching his stomach and whining about being hungry. This wasn't...exactly like how Lance thought things would go, but at least he wasn't crying anymore. Lance was a sympathetic crier and it had been hard to restrain himself from joining in but for Lotor's sake he had been able to blink back the tears whenever they appeared. Once Lotor finally appeared to exhaust himself Lance suggested taking back Lotor to Fruye where his guards were likely looking for him. Lotor nodded and demanded that Lance carry him down, and Lance in mixture of guilt and annoyance, agreed. The walk back to Blue was silent, with Lotor only making the occasional noise whenever his boot caught on a rock.

“How did you know where to find me?” Lotor asked quietly once they arrived at Blue’s barrier.

“The holo drive.” Lance simply explained as he led Lotor into the cockpit and dug around for the rations which Lotor immediately ripped open, downing the water packet in only a few gulps. Lotor made a humming noise.

“And how did you even know I was missing  in the first place? I’m pretty sure GAE only talk about me when I embarrass myself.”  Lotor asked curiously. Lance dropped down into his pilot’s chair and immediately began to lift off, Lotor standing right beside him, noisily opening the various packets of the rations.

“Your guards sort of sent out a private broadcast.” It _technically_ wasn't a lie. Lotor froze beside him.

“They did?” He asked, his cheeks stuffed with what Lance was pretty sure were the Altean version of soy nuts. Lance made an affirmative sound.

“Just because some people may not care about you, doesn't mean that others don't.” Lance explained gently as Lotor quietly swallowed his rations behind him.

“Your people adore you Lotor. When you speak they listen, you can make a difference, not just for them but for everyone who lives under the thumb of Zarkon in the Empire.” Lance explained. Lance heard Lotor fiddle behind him before the holo drive was presented in front of his face.

“All the things on here...is it real?” Lotor asked hesitantly. Lance nodded.

“I’ve seen it personally too many times to count.”

Lotor didn't respond to that and in fact remained silent for the rest of the ride to Fruye.

Lance landed in a field rich with flowers of all colors just outside the city Lotor had been staying in. Lance sat in his chair as Lotor stood up from his position on the floor of the cockpit and brushed himself off.

“Thank you for the ride,” Lotor said quietly, moving to leave before stopping again. “And thank you for...the food.” He said just as quietly before rushing out of Blue. Instinctively Lance knew that Lotor wasn't just referring to the rations. He had made an impact on Lotor today that was for sure, whether that led to something was up to Lotor himself but Lance had a good feeling about it.

It looked as though he may have thrown things out of proportion but his fumble with Lotor couldn't happen again, he can't always be the standoffish observer who leaves it up to someone else. He has to take responsibility for his actions and for his plans, he can't depend on Kolivan to do all the work, or Lotor, or Allura or anyone else. He can’t simply drop a burden on someone without explaining why.

Hopefully Lotor understood the significance of his father’s lack of concern for him. And maybe this would be enough to push him towards action and in turn, to the final stages, ending this once and for all.

XxX

Lance's gamble paid off.

According to a surprised Rolo, Lotor went on GAE two weeks later to speak against his father, Emperor Zarkon, urging the Galra people to join his side and support his bid for the throne against the tyrant they called a ruler. Using photographic evidence of the atrocities committed under his father’s name as justification for his immediate removal.

Allura and the others were confused when skirmishes between different Galra warships began taking place a few weeks after that. From what Kolivan had reported several lower rank soldiers and even a few uppercrusts had decided to back up Lotor’s coupe.

Many of the Blades of Marmora switched to Lotor's side while others remained by Emperor Zarkon's side. Kolivan was contemplating the pros and cons of revealing the Blade to Lotor, and Lance was keeping his hands out of that one. They were Kolivan’s men, not his, they were risking their life for Marmora, not Voltron and he had no right to infringe on the decision-even if he may view revealing the Blade as only helpful in the long run.

Pidge and the others had been attempting to hack the various radio frequencies of passing battle cruisers in hope of information, and had been mostly unsuccessful (they weren't military grade for nothing after all). So the team was still relatively in the dark...until Keith ripped a page from Lance's book and asked if Pidge could search for a Galra television/news station for more information. Lance watched , anxiously, as Pidge switched between frequencies before stopping on one that had what looked like several well dressed Galra settled along a round table.

“...and this whole thing about Lotor's bid for power against the Emperor? Oh that just has unresolved family issues written all over it!” One of them laughed. Talk shows. Of course the Galra had talk shows.

“What is this?” Keith asked in bafflement.

“It kinda looks like _The View_ ,” Shiro mused aloud. He turned to face them when he felt their incredulous (and judging) gazes on him.

“What? It's a respectable show.”

“Yeah but it's been around since my great grandma was a kid.” Hunk pointed out which Shiro looked ready to argue. The voices of the Galra hosts cut him off.

“Yes, I even hear that some corners of the universe have even erupted into violence since the release of Prince Lotor's so called 'evidence' against his father. For our viewers that feel out of the loop-here it is again.” The Galra said as the screen suddenly began to play a slideshow of the various photographs by Lance. _‘Oh fuck’_ was the only thought that ran through his head.

“Wait Pidge pause it!” Keith suddenly yelled out, the screen had frozen on an image of one of the aliens rescued from Sendak's ship in the healing pod.

“Does that thing look familiar to you guys?” He asked, pointing towards the screen.

“It’s one of the healing pods from castle's the medical bay!” Coran realized. Suddenly all of their body language changed, becoming confused, angry, and scared.

“What!” Allura screamed, furious.

“How is that possible they shouldn't be able to get inside the castle! Have they done it again? Are they here now?” Hunk yelled as he nervously moved back and forth.

“This can't be good.” Pidge mumbled.

“You!” Allura screamed, drawing all their attentions, “,this was all your doing wasn't it! I knew we couldn't trust you!” Allura was pointing towards Kolivan and Antok who had been watching silently the entire time, Lance rushed to stand defensively in front of them.

“Allura it wasn't them! It couldn't have been! The pictures are from before we even knew about the Blade of Marmora.” Lance tried to explain calmly even though he was internally freaking out while simultaneously trying not to wither under Allura's harsh glare.

“If not them then who? We were the only ones aboard the castle ship at the time! Are you suggesting _one of us_ may have done it! Are you aware of how foolish you sound right now Lance?!” Allura roared, steadily approaching him, like a lioness about to strike. Lance refused to back up and met her glare head on. There was a ball of anxiety in his throat, and he felt like throwing up...but it had to come out at some point.

“They couldn't have done it.” Lance said confidently.

“How are you so sure-!”

“They couldn't have done it because _I_ did it.” Lance cut her off.

A thick, disbelieving silence blanketed the room.

“What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dam lance u just can't catch a break, tho honestly u shoulda seen this coming boy, i mean u gave the man evidence and he had a newstation on hand-plus little keefer is a fast learner.


	12. im drownin in this waterfall of emotion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lance's dam of emotions finally bursts, understandings are made, and more revelations come forth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> u will never believe how many times i rewrote parts of this to get it to flow the way i wanted, writing is hard

_‘McClain you are fifty shades of stupid.’_

Lance awkwardly shifted as he stared back to his incredulous teammates. _I can do this. I can do this._ He reassured himself. He had to do it eventually anyway so what if this confrontation had been sped up a bit? Murphy’s law and all that, he should be used to the whole “things going wrong” gig.

“Lance?” Keith asked quietly, Lance tried to resist turning to meet his eyes, he didn't know what Keith must be feeling, even years together weren't enough to give him insight into the inner workings of that boy’s mind. He couldn't look, he wouldn't look.

“Lance?”

He looked.

Keith's forehead was creased in pure confusion, his purple tinted eyes staring at him in an indiscernible emotion. Lance bit down sharply on his lip, wiping his suddenly sweaty palms on his jeans. He can't lie directly to Keith's face. There's no story he could weave, no excuse he could craft that wouldn't make him feel like shit.

“Keith,” Lance breathed, his chest tightening as he turned to face him fully. “I can explain. But you have to-”

“What do you mean you're responsible?” A cold voice cut Lance off. Lance felt shivers race up his spine, he tilted his head slightly in order to catch sight of Allura who was shaking in barely contained fury.

“Allura I-” Lance tried to begin.

“Have you placed us all in danger? _What do you mean you ‘did it’!_ ” She growled, approaching him in two large steps. Lance immediately backed away. Allura could crush his skull with a single hand, like hell he was going to stay close when she was pissed off.

“Allura give me like two minutes and I can explain!” Lance yelled desperately, the slightest edge of fear in his voice. Allura had shifted into a much taller and broader version of herself, glaring down at him with suspicion clouded eyes.

“Allura, my dear there is no need for that.” Coran insisted as he came up to stand in front of Lance, his palms in front of him as he attempted to soothe a furious Allura. Lance guiltily watched as Allura forced herself to calm down, breathing harshly through her nose. He expected anger from them...but he didn't think it would be enough to force Allura to shift. She’d never done that in front of any of them before, not even when she first found out Keith was part Galra. The shift was a symbol of an Altean’s unstable emotions and mixed feelings and to think that he had brought that on….

“Speak.” Allura commanded and Lance's head whipped up to face her. The other paladins were standing in a circle around them, Keith the closest on his right, watching him with concerned eyes. Shiro and Pidge were looking anxiously between him and Allura, their faces showing indecision. Both Hunk and Coran were standing by Kolivan and Antok, their faces creased in worry and ready to intervene if things got out of hand. Kolivan and Antok were standing in silent observation and Lance knew they wouldn't likely intervene, this was a matter to be settled among the member of Voltron. Lance took a shaky breath and opened his mouth, but no sound would come out.

“ _I said to speak._ ” Allura spit out acidly. Keith bristled at his side and Hunk let out a squeak as he nervously wrung his hands together.

“I gave Prince Lotor, son of Zarkon, photographs of the different Galra cruelties we witnessed.” Lance admitted with forced calm even though he could feel his heart trying to beat out of his chest. Diplomacy was his specialty so maybe things wouldn't turn ugly if he took that route-just stay calm, speak clearly, and don't lose your cool.

“ _And what the quiznak would possess you to do that?!_ Have you lost all sense of rationality! He is Zarkon's spawn! Have you any idea of the danger you have potentially placed not only this _team_ but the entire _Universe_ in?!” She boomed, flashing her teeth at him in a snarl. Lance could hear the mice squeaking in distress from where they were nestled in her hair. Shiro and Pidge were staring at him with shocked and slightly betrayed expressions. Keith froze beside him, but didn't say anything.

“I am aware of your concerns but I don't feel as though that is the case-”

Allura scoffed and crossed her arms in front of her.

“This was a calculated risk, Lotor is not like his father. He-”

“How do you know that?” A voice broke in from his side. Lance turned slightly and was met with the sight of a frowning Keith staring at him with conflicted eyes. _‘No. Not you too Keith’_

“How could you possibly know that?” He asked, his voice desperate and his shoulders trembling in barely concealed anger? Sadness? Hurt?

“...I talked to him Keith. He’s not the type to-”

“You talked to him?!” Keith yelled, slightly hysterical. Lance flinched and felt a sting in his eyes begin to form but cleared his throat in an effort to make it go away.

“Yes.” Lance said softly, they just needed to let him _explain_. “But I-”

“What does that mean you _‘talked’_ to him?!” Keith yelled, his eyes alight with what could only be described as rage.

“Keith!”  Shiro called out as Keith looked away from Lance, his hands curled into fists and shook by his side. Keith had more of a reason than anyone to be angry, after all the two of them were together and were really building a close bond. Knowing that Lance had kept such a huge secret from him must have been not only hurtful and confusing but enraging as well…maybe even enough to-. Lance felt his legs begin to tremble as a thick soup of nervousness and anxiety swirled together in his stomach, it was getting harder to breath.

“It means I talked to him and he’s on our side.” Lance said, attempting to come across as calm but the cracks in his voice didn't help send the message. “Keith… I would _never_ put any of us in danger on purpose, I love you guys.” Lance said reaching out with one of his hands wanting to beg Keith to understand but they were immediately slapped away. Lance tried to push down the hurt that began to rise up as a result of the action. _‘He’s mad, of course he’s mad, why wouldn't he be?’_.

“Lance,” Shiro chimed in, catching his attention. Lance reluctantly turned away from Keith who had begun to angrily stare at the floor. “Why wouldn’t you tell us this?” He asked, hurt coating his words. Lance gulped and took a nervous breath, he was losing it, he was losing grip, this isn't how the conversation was supposed to turn out. They just need to understand that he was just, he was just-

“I-I..I was just-.” He broke off quietly. Why was it so much harder admitting the truth to them than it was Kolivan? Lance’s heart was beating so loudly he could hear the ‘ _thump_ ’ pulsing in his ears. “You guys shouldn't have to worry about things like this.” Lance finally said shakily. The others save for Coran and Hunk immediately bristled at his response.

“Lance we are your team, we take on this burden _together_.” Shiro responds as he stares down at Lance with pity? Disappointment? Lance doesn't know anymore. His breathing is getting faster and his heart won't stop beating so quickly, he's getting dizzy. _I need them to understand, I need them to understand._ _If I just tell them then they'll-_

“Where would you get the idea that you needed to do this “alone” what are you Batman?” Pidge asked incredulously. Lance's eyes hurt, he feels like he's cutting onions because fat tears are collecting in his eyes and he doesn't even know _why_.

The others are all talking over each other and sound like they're a million miles away, Keith has grabbed his hand and is trying to pull it away from his covered face, Lance didn't even know he had put it there. It sounds like Antok and Kolivan have finally joined the conversation because their voices are trying to speak over Allura, Shiro, and Pidge’s questions. Hunk and Coran are trying to calm everyone down and Keith is trying to pull Lance close to him while whispering desperate questions into his ears. Lance can’t take it. ‘ _stay calm, speak clearly, don't lose your cool.’_ A voice in his head tries to remind him. Lance can't. _‘don't lose your cool.’_ He can't. _don't lose your cool.don't lose your cool.don'tloseyourcool_

“YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND! _I had to do it!_ ” Lance finally bursts, his own voice had turned desperate and slightly manic.

“Sure things were fine at first! And I kept telling myself that I shouldn't intervene, that it wouldn't be right but I couldn't! I just couldn't!” Lance begins to shake slightly, his self control is slipping, Allura looks likes she's going to say something but Lance immediately cuts her off.

“We were okay, but we weren't happy man! Can you blame me for not wanting to see you guys cry again? A-a-and things were going fine!” Lance managed to choke out, it felt like his throat was starting to swell up and there was a definite wetness in his eyes that was starting to overflow. He couldn't stop himself, this buildup had been a long time coming and he only had himself to blame.

“So yeah! I went behind your backs! But I did it for a reason! You think I like lying to you guys? You think I like pretending to be someone I’m not and-and-and just _fuck_ !” Lance curses viciously, the others flinch in front of him. _What is he saying? What is he thinking? ‘Pretending’ to be someone else? He is Lance. He's always been Lance…but that's not true is it? He's known it since the Garrison, that he didn’t belong here, that he's alone here-in this steadily brighter world. He's alone...so fucking alone_. Lance is breathing in harsh, rapid breaths, he’s put a hand to his chest, trying to calm his pounding heart and for a single moment he thinks he's having an honest to god heart attack.

Keith has come to his side and is trying to cup his face in order to look at him, he hears the others asking questions about what's going on. Antok and Kolivan are both attempting to soothe everyone's growing panic and Lance momentarily feels guilty that he’s forced them into explaining Lance’s fuck up. Because that’s what this is isn’t it? Lance’s fuck up. That’s all he can do-all he does..is fuck up...No, that’s not true. He did the right thing, he knows that he did the right thing and all these thoughts and self-doubts he’s been having have no _right_ to exist. Lance loses feeling in his legs and slumps down to the ground. The room has fallen into silence, the only sound being Lance’s occasional sniffles.

“I-I was trying...I was really trying. But I’m just _tired_ now.” Lance’s heart hurt, his head hurt, his eyes, his ears, his teeth, his fingers, his nails. Every part of him hurt and he was _tired_. Tired of lying.

Lance took a steadying breath, trying to remember all his training and for a single minute was able to bring himself together, it wouldn’t last, he’d fall back apart but he just needed them to know, they needed to _know_ what he’s been doing.

“I gave those pictures to Lotor, and _I knew_ what he would do with them,” he began, “I erased Sendak’s memories because _I knew_ what was on them, I reinstalled the recordings of King Alfor because _I knew_ what losing them would do to Allura, _I knew_ that the coordinates in Shiro’s arm would lead us to Ulaz, _I knew_ Keith was half-Galra, _I knew_ the space mall would have teleduv lenses, _I knew_ Zarkon was the former Black paladin, _I knew_ all of that and I know more.” Lance choked out, his lungs felt like they were seizing but he still managed. A stunned silence took over and Lance stayed on the floor.

“And I know all of this because...because...I’ve already _lived_ it.” Lance breaths out. He slowly raises his red rimmed eyes to look at his stunned team, all watching him with disbelieving eyes.

“I’m from the future.”

XxX

The days following Lance’s reveal were _awkward_ to say the least. Nobody knew quite how to take it, Lance himself didn’t quite know how to, his very public mental breakdown did offer him some revealations but also left him uncomfortable because he didn’t even know how much he’d been bottling up and now that he did, he didn’t know what to do with that new information. He’d taken a psychology class his first year of highschool before he transferred to the Garrison but he’d gotten like a ‘B’ and didn’t even remember a lot other than that guy who trained dogs to love bells or something. So that meant that self-treatment was not in the cards, and that was only possible if he even knew where to begin, for all he knew his breakdown could have been traced back to to any number of things he did and experienced as a paladin, it’s not like paladin duties allowed them time for some proper therapy anyway.

Allura and Shiro had been acting about the same as Kolivan when he found out, slightly unnerved and nervous, not quite sure how to interact with him but still willing to watch him when they thought he wasn’t looking. Pidge seemed content with following him around and “coincidentally” being in the same room as him all hours of the day, they never offered any questions or even talked to him really-just sat and watched him with curious wide eyes. Hunk acted perhaps the most normal, if not skittish, Lance supposed he had their common background and childhood friendship to thank for that. Hunk offered him some of his newest concoctions and expressed concern over Lance’s mental health, citing his weird day back at the Garrison as proof. Coran was his normal self, acting as though the whole reveal hadn’t happened and that Lance was still the same Lance, which he was secretly very grateful for.

But it was Keith who had him concerned...Keith who hadn’t spoken to him yet. Lance knew how Keith could get sometimes, the desire to be alone when something was off with him was a desire he knew Keith often expressed. At first Lance had feared that Keith felt betrayed by his secret keeping (which he had a right to), but he would have ripped Lance a new one if that was the case. It wasn’t sadness or else Keith would’ve had that hurt look on his face whenever he saw him, but Keith offered a nod of acknowledgement whenever they passed each other.

Lance knew better than to push Keith, but the burning desire to know what was going to become of them took ever any rationality he may have had left. Due to how tense the team was at the moment, and the delicate state the paladin bond was now in, he couldn’t afford to confront Keith. So he needed to go to the only other person that could help him with his problem and considering the two of them had a tolerance of each on a good day it would not be easy. But they had one thing in common, and that was that they both loved Keith.

XxX

“Red I need to talk to you.”

The Red Lion was sitting proudly in her hanger, her eyes darkened from her resting state. Lance knew she could hear him, she was just being difficult.

“Red you know me, you know I would do anything for Keith,” Lance began as he felt the Red Lion’s quintessence brushing over him in a manner that was both curious and demanding of an answer for his presence. “I just want to know if you could tell me how Keith’s been, i-is he okay? What is he feeling and can I help?” Lance asked calmly as the Red Lion weighed her decision to divulge him any information. Just when he thought she was going to open up to him he felt her recede from him, and Lance almost tripped over himself in surprise.

“W-what? Red!” Lance exclaimed. “Red what the heck? I thought we were in mutual agreement that Keith is like the greatest thing to ever happen to both of us! Why are you shutting me out? I just want to fix what I screwed up between us you know I could never hurt Keith!” Lance yelled up at Red who seemed to be ignoring him.

“Re-!”

“Are you yelling at my Lion?” A baffled voice asked from behind him, Lance instantly felt all his muscles freeze and slowly turned around to face a confused Keith entering Red’s hanger. He didn’t seem angry like he was when Lance told them about what he’d been doing. He didn’t seem sad either. He seemed almost _normal._

“Yes?” Lance responded hesitantly as Keith came up beside him, they hadn’t spoken to each other in days and Keith just made an offhand remark like it was no big deal.

“Huh, I didn’t know you two were that close.” Keith said quietly, he had yet to meet Lance’s eyes. Lance nervously fiddled with his fingers, he didn’t know how to approach this-Keith was the most precious thing in his life, he didn’t want to screw this up anymore than he already has.

“How, um, how have you been?” Lance asked carefully. Keith made a noncommittal noise and entered the hanger, approaching Red’s claw and plopping down on it so he was facing Lance. Lance shifted uncomfortably in front of him.

“You look great.” Lance offered weakly, Keith immediately frowned, looking down at himself.

“I look the same.”

“Yeah but, you look great...all the time.” Lance croaked out, his throat suddenly felt dry, probably the nerves. Keith nodded slowly in understanding. Keith idly stroked Red’s mechanical paw as Lance desperately searched through his mind for what to say.

“So, are you and I like close?” Keith asked, he practically whispered the question making it difficult for Lance to catch it. Lance nodded and looked around the hanger for a chair or a place to sit, he didn’t want to be too presumptuous by sitting with Keith on Red so instead he plopped down on the floor of Red’s hanger.

“Yeah, we were really close, aside from Hunk, you were my best friend.”

Keith turned stunned eyes to look at him, he stopped stroking red’s paw and turned full attention to Lance.

“Friends?” Keith asked.

“The bestest. I didn’t spill that I wanted you as more than just a friend until later mostly because I was a stupid idiot with too much pride.”

Keith looked surprised at the revelation. “You liked me.” He said giddily, a bright smile lighting up his face and displaying the most emotion he’d seen from Keith so far.

“Of course I did, I still do.” Lance said, praying he wasn’t overstepping any boundaries. Keith’s eyes widened at his words, Lance was mentally preparing himself for any rejection that could come, he would hold back the tears until he was back in his room and alone, he’d cried in front of enough people already.

“You still like me?” Keith asked in pure surprise. Lance froze at his words. _What?_

“Of course I do Keith,” Lance breathed, relief flooding every part of his body. “Why would you think I’d ever want to give you up?”

Keith looked down to his hands and away from Lance. “I made you cry.” He said simply

Lance jolted up from his place on the ground, “Keith that-that wasn’t your fault, I was already ripping apart at the seams when everything came spilling out, the whole crying was just a-a release? I think?” Lance immediately responded.

“But I saw how upset you were when Allura was yelling at you then I started yelling at you too, Kolivan and Antok tried to get us to back off but I kept asking you questions and you were crying and I’ve never seen you so-so sad or angry or both? I don’t know! Look at me I can’t even tell what you’re feeling.” Keith slumped down, putting his head into his hands. Lance stood up and walked over to him, carefully sitting down beside him.

“Allura was right to yell at me and so were you, you had a right to be angry, if it were me then I definitely would have been furious. The fact that you’re even talking to me now… is just-I’m so grateful that you’re letting me be near you. And it’s not your job to know what I’m feeling-I tell you what I feel so you don’t have to guess, I didn't do that so this and everything that happened is on me. I didn’t tell anyone or let anyone in and kept it all locked inside, what happened as a result was _my fault,_ okay?” Lance assured Keith.

“You know a lot about this,” Keith noted. Lance assumed he was talking about his dispersal of self-blame and the whole relationship navigation system.

“I’ve been doing it for awhile, first time around was pretty disastrous, we had fights everyday about something-either the towel in the bathroom wasn’t folded, you wore your shoes to bed, or even taking too long to use the goo machine. It wasn’t easy but we managed and we were happy together, we were really really happy together.” Lance said, sighing longingly.

“Do you miss them?” Keith asked quietly. Lance nodded slightly.

“I miss them everyday, it’s like this vital part of me is gone, but whenever I’m with you...I just feel like _me_ again.” Lance says, Keith flushes all the way to his ears and Lance grins tiredly, his emotions had been through the wringer lately and he was surprised he managed to feel anything other than crippling doubt and anxiety. Of course Keith wasn’t a cure for all ails, but he certainly helped alleviate a lot of the tension Lance had been feeling lately, if only for a moment. Keith shifted closer to Lance so their thighs were pressed together.

“I like you.” Keith says softly. Lance feels another grin curl his lips at the soft confession, yet full of the tender emotions that always came with confessions .

“I really like you too.” Lance responds happily, he lightly leans his weight against Keith and rests his head on his shoulder. The two sat in the hanger together, a comfortable silence between them. Red purred above them and Lance knew that for the most part he was mostly forgiven by both Keith and Red.

XxX

Lance and Keith didn’t immediately bounce back to the comfortable relationship they had been developing beforehand, there was an air of newly developed understanding between them which seemed to serve as an incentive for the others to begin approaching Lance again. Lance had feared that their bond had been severely damaged as a result of his deceit (a risk he chose to take, he reminded himself) but it turned out to take more of a hesitant and unsure nature than any outright destruction of the connection. While there were hints of uncertainty there was no outright distrust, they still had faith in Lance. _They still had faith in Lance._

Once given the go-ahead by Keith, Pidge suddenly assaulted Lance with lines of questions that Lance had a hard time answering, Slav would probably do a better job, but their explanations were typically long and filled with technical jargon. Pidge ended up becoming a sort of third wheel for when he and Keith were trying to have some alone time to grow closer. (It was more like Keith became a third wheel for him and Pidge). It got to the point where Keith would lock and board up the door to whatever room they decided to spend their free time in, of course Pidge always managed to break in ,eventually, but the attempts for privacy were greatly appreciated.

“Lance I have another question!” Pidge called from the end of the hall. Keith groaned in exasperation and Lance patted his shoulder sympathetically. Pidge jogged over to them, holding their laptop open and facing them. Lance nodded and took a seat on one of the couches of a nearby break room. Pidge knocked Keith out of the way, who had made to sit next to Lance, forcing him to instead sit across from them. Pidge ignored Keith’s scowl directed to them and turned their screen to face Lance. Lance had been fully expecting a chart or complicated diagram to aid whatever question Pidge was going to pose, but was instead met with the photographs of two very familiar people.

“Do you know where they are?” Pidge asked, desperation leaking into their voice.

Lance took in the photos of Samuel and Matthew Holt, who according to Rolo were now safely residing within a Rythue refugee camp.

Not trusting his voice, Lance nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh man


	13. backstreet's back, alright!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pidge reunites with their family, shiro is both anticipating and dreading it, and lance finally gets one step close to discovering the root of his problem

Upon seeing his confirmation Pidge released an inhuman screech that reverberated through the castle. Lance fell off the couch in surprise, Keith gripped his ears and began whining at the sound. Lance briefly recalled that Kolivan had once told him how much more sensitive Galra ears were to sounds and pitch and immediately tried to get Pidge to quiet down, hoping to stop the source of Keith and possibly Kolivan and Antok’s discomfort. Pidge did stop screaming but immediately grabbed Lance's jacket and pulled him close in a white knuckle grip, firing off questions. _‘Are they okay?’ ‘Are they alive?’ ‘Where were they???’_. Lance lightly tapped Pidge's fists and tried to get them to calm down as he attempted to explain the situation. Before he could speak more he heard the pounding of footsteps approaching and caught sight of Shiro and Kolivan both rushing into the room, Shiro had a haggard appearance and was lightly dripping sweat, likely from his workout that had been interrupted.

“What happened?!” Shiro asked frantically, looking around the room for a source of danger. Pidge was slapping their hands on Lance's face, ordering him to answer their questions. Lance grimaced slightly at the action, Pidge's hands were always sweaty and smelt like metal for some reason, he attempted to lightly push away the squirming Green paladin.

“Pidge, they're safe, okay?” Lance assured he attempted to wrangle Pidge into his arms, but they were as slippery as a cat and kept moving, they even hit Lance's nose with their head when they suddenly looked up.

“Where are they?!” Pidge asked, anxiously bouncing in place their wide eyes watching Lance beseechingly.

“They're in a refugee camp a couple systems away. Rolo told me that they found Matt a few days ago and he seems to be doing fine.” Lance calmly explained to them in a nasally voice while rubbing where Pidge's head had hit him.

“Rolo? You mean that shady guy we met on the moon when we were going to save the Balmera?” Hunk’s incredulous voice asked. Lance turned slightly and saw that Hunk, Allura, Coran, and Antok had all finally arrived and were standing in silent observation at the proceedings.

“Yes,” Lance admitted, “I kinda roped them into helping me when we met them.”

“Helped you to do what?” Allura asked curiously, looking confused.

“They've been smuggling out slaves from different colonies around the empire and delivering them to different refugee camps.” Lance said more casually than he would have liked.

A hush fell over the room at his statement.

“Repeat what you said once more, please.” Allura said, sounding stunned. Lance nodded.

“Nyma and Rolo are going into colonies disguised as commercial supply delivery ships and sneaking people out when the shipments leave, they've been getting a lot of help from other underworld dealers and smugglers. The operation is slow, but it's safe and there's been almost zero fatalities.” Lance explained calmly, this was one of the few things he felt confident in, relocation of former prisoners who no longer had a home was a bit more difficult and many ended up remaining within the camps until they chose to hitch a ride with other passing cruisers or another ship delivering refugees. But for the most part many ended up returning to their former homes or seeking asylum from neighboring planets.

“And Lance knows where my family is!” Pidge exclaims. “That Rolo guy told him that they were in one of the camps a few systems away, _we have to go!_ ” Pidge yells, their voice leaving no room for arguments.

“Lance is that true?” Shiro asked looking both hopeful and nervous. Lance nodded affirmatively.

“We’re free to visit, though I say we bring some supplies with us-medical tools, blankets, food and water, running these camps is no easy feat and they could use any help they could get.” Lance adds.

“I’ll gather some from the castle's stores! King Alfor always insisted we carry supplies should we need to send relief efforts to planets struck with tragedy!” Coran declared and rushed out of the room probably to make a checklist for the supply drop.

“How long have you known of these camps?” Allura asks curiously, approaching him and Pidge cautiously with her eyes lingering on Lance as though he might not welcome her presence. Lance felt a little guilt at her careful approach, Allura had felt uncomfortable about her earlier accusations and had tried to amend. Lance had readily forgiven her but it seemed like she was still caught by lingering feelings of regret. Lance offered her a kind smile, and watched her shoulders slowly lose their tenseness before responding.

“They've been around for a long time, we didn't know about them because they directly oppose Zarkon and break the law by offering refuge to prisoners of the empire. You can't exactly go around advertising that sort of thing. Freeing prisoners while important sort of took a backseat from freeing planets for us, but Nyma and Rolo were good at it in my time, they're good people- a little rough around the edges but can you blame them? Living under Zarkon is an ‘every man for himself’ world.” Lance reveals.

“Was that why you were spending so much time with Nyma when we met them on the moon?” Keith asks, Lance notes that there’s a slight edge to his voice and resists the urge to coo because Keith must be worried about his claim over Lance. Lance nods enthusiastically, turning to face Keith who stood up and was watching him with crossed arms and a slight pout.

“Nyma’s real stubborn, they wouldn't have listened if I tried to convince Rolo first. When we shook hands just before they left I slipped her a bunch of info on camp locations and Blue’s hailing number in case they got into trouble.”

“The Lions have hailing numbers?” Hunk asks curiously. Lance nods.

“They’re kinda like phone numbers? But for ships. Mine’s on the head of my pilot chair, it's the seven digits located right at the top.”

The others slowly nod in fascination.

“You know a lot about your Lion.” Allura notes, there's an undertone of happiness in her voice and Lance nods in agreement.

“...So do you talk to Nyma often?” Keith probes.

“I talk to her, Rolo, and Beezer at least once a week for updates.” Lance assures him, Keith didn't often need assurance for Lance's permanence in his life, but their relationship was still green and Keith was still realizing that there wasn't anyone in the galaxy Lance would leave him for.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it Keith, you think Nyma’s going to try to take your boy toy from you but moving on! When can we leave? Can we leave now?” Pidge interrupts, bouncing on their feet, their eyes shining in in a mixture of anticipation and anxiety, ignoring Keith's indignant sputtering. Lance looks towards to Allura who seems to be considering it.

“Shiro is your connection to Black strong enough?” Lance asks, to rest Allura’s worry of a possible tracking and inadvertently reining destruction down on innocent people.

Shiro looks up and nods intensely before going back his deep thinking, his forehead creased in thought. Lance let's his concerned gaze linger on him for a bit longer before looking towards Allura, who gave a nod of agreement and turned to leave the room in order to return to the command deck.

Pidge shuffles in place, shaking with anticipatory energy before jumping lightly in place and darting off suddenly, screaming about making something revisions to the castle's systems to prepare for the trip. Hunk runs after them, yelling about offering his assistance.

Shiro stood as still as a statue and made no move to leave, Lance shared a concerned gaze with Keith and slowly began to approach, careful not to startle him.

“Shiro?” Lance asked carefully. Shiro's eyes flickered to him but didn't show full attention.

“Are you alright? Is there something I can do for you?” Lance gently asked. Shiro shook his head.

“Matt’s going to be there.” Shiro offers, nervously. Lance nods in agreement.

“Last time I saw him I nearly cut off his leg.” Shiro whispers. “What if...what if he-?”

“Stop.” Lance immediately orders. “Don't go there. You saved his life, I’m relatively positive he doesn't hate you.”

Shiro slowly nods and takes shaky deep breaths before freezing and turning to look at Lance with a hesitant expression.

“Relatively?” He asks quietly. Lance feels a grimace creep up on his features. It's not as though he was going to _hide_ Sam and Matt’s old fates from the rest of the team, he would have just preferred that it be left _alone_ and instead have them focus on the reality of what happened as a result of intervention.

“I've...never actually met them.” Lance confesses looking into Shiro's widening eyes.

“They didn't…make it?” Shiro asks, devastated. Lance nods tensely.

“It's why I wanted to make sure that they did this time, you and Pidge were so...upset when you found out.” Upset was an understatement, no one could approach Pidge for two days without getting viciously attacked (not even Hunk) and only afterwards when they were too exhausted from crying to care who came into their room to bring them food and water or who came to clean up what was destroyed in their anger. Shiro had similarly locked himself in his room for a day before emerging and wandering the castle like a zombie. Both had struggled greatly with their grief for weeks before returning to a semblance of their old selves.

Shiro bit his lip and creased his face in displeasure at Lance's words. Lance slowly lifted a hand and clapped it down on Shiro's shoulder reassuringly, the same way he had done to them numerous times.

“I wouldn't think on it too hard, Sam and Matt are safe now and now that Pidge knows they're okay there's no way anything will happen to them.” Lance assures. Not thinking about things always semi-worked for him, hopefully it would offer Shiro enough reassurement until he was able to see Sam and Matt physically, to rest his worries. Shiro still looks disbelieving but offers Lance a wet smile before turning to leave the room, his tense shoulders tightening further as he exits.

Lance watches him leave with concerned eyes. Neither Shiro or Pidge had taken their deaths well, hopefully reuniting with them would help settle Shiro's mind about what he had recently learned. Maybe even some one on one with them would alleviate many of the burdens he seemed to be carrying.

A light tap on his shoulder had Lance turning to face Keith who had come up behind him as Shiro left.

“You good? You seem a little worried about Shiro.” He says, his own face twisted in said  worry.

“I’m always worried baby. It's just Shiro...blames himself a lot. I wish I could help him but...I can barely keep myself together on a good day.” Lance sighs. At least he was finally beginning to admit that he had an issue. Keith stood awkwardly by his side and was obviously trying to think of something profound and comforting to say.

“That...sucks bud.” He offers weakly. Lance immediately lets out a snort of laughter.

“ _Bud?_ ” He asks in a slight mocking voice. Keith scowls at him and pinches his cheek, which makes Lance yelp more in surprise than in pain.

“Shut up! I was trying to be nice! See if I try to comfort you again!” Keith says loudly over the sound of Lance's amused giggling.

“I know you were _honey bunch._ ” Lance says lightly, wrapping his arms around Keith's shoulders and kissing his nose despite Keith’s grimace.

“Why can't you ever call me by a cool name, _‘honey bunch’_  sounds so lame.” He complains. Lance smiles brightly.

“It comes from the heart and that's all that matters.” Lance assures him as he begins to let all his weight fall onto Keith. Keith's panicked expression makes it the best day Lance's had in awhile.

“L-Lance wait, don't!” Keith yells out frantically as he starts to tip backwards from supporting Lance's increased pressure. Keith lets out a yell as he finally falls over, gripping Lance's body to him as he hits the ground with a light _‘thump_.’

“You’re awful. I don't like you anymore.” Keith groans over Lance's barely concealed snickers. Keith slowly lifts his hands to Lance's head and cards has fingers through his hair, lightly scratching Lance's scalp. Lance shivers at the feeling,  the both of them are pressed tightly against each other so Keith feels Lance's reaction run through his body and smirks smugly up at him. Lance rolls his eyes and leans down to plant several light kisses along Keith's chin, smiling against him. Despite Keith's vocal protests they remain on the ground, combfortable in each others arms until Allura calls them up to the bridge to set the course for the camp.

XxX

“How are we going to find my family in _this_?” Pidge asks incredulously as they finally touch down, only to be met with a line of tents and various large setups that seemed to stretch on for miles. Different species of aliens all clustered around and intermingled with each other. Each and everyone looked exhausted and seemed incredibly skittish, eyeing the paladins with distrust. Lance knew it was the uniforms that were unnerving them, they'd never met a good person who wore a uniform.

“Different colored tents signify different meaning.” Lance explains as he gestured to how the clusters of tents were all dyed differently from each other.

“For the most part a majority of the tents are Blue-that's basic dwellings. Yellow is sustenance. And Red is where Pidge’s family likely is, that's medical.” Lance explains as he points towards the cluster of red tents he purposely had them land by. Allura nods in interest.

“Why only three colors?” She asks. Lance stops for a second.

“I-...I actually don't know. I assumed that they were primary colors because those are basic colors and maybe most species can differentiate between them? But I’m actually not sure. Good question though.”  Lance says as he gazes at the camp. Nyma and Rolo had already left on another expedition so they wouldn't be reuniting this time. Pidge finally pushes themselves out from where they had been standing behind Lance, turning to give them all a nervous yet excited look.

“You guys can deal with dropping off the supplies I’m going to look for my dad and Matt.” Pidge says quickly as they immediately dart off in the direction of the red tents. Lance probably should’ve put a leash on them before they touched down-the doctors in medical do not fuck around. Lance glances towards Allura who gives him a meaningful look and he immediately speeds off after Pidge to stop them before they get themselves into trouble. He hears the footsteps of the other paladin’s giving chase along with him, Allura probably wanted to deal with the distribution of supplies as well as give them time to help Pidge.

Lance managed to catch up to Pidge near one of the red tents and grabs the back of their armor before can barge in.

“Slow down there Speedy Gonzales!” Lance exclaims as he wraps an arm around Pidge’s waist and hoists them over his shoulder. Pidge kicks out their legs and beats their hands against his back, attempting to hit him as he takes a few steps away from the tent, shooting an apologetic look to the nearby staring audience of aliens.

“Lance!” Pidge growls in a manner that still manages to sound whining. Lance hears the approaching footsteps of the other paladins and shoots Hunk a look that hopefully translates as _‘help me’_. Hunk must’ve understood because he reaches out and pulls Pidge out of Lance's struggling arms, wrapping them in a hug that would keep their arms pinned to the side. Lance releases a sigh and twists to crack his back.

“Alright Gunderson I know you're excited to see your family but this is a medical tent, there are people who are injured and need to recover here. One of the things they need is some _quiet_ , which is why it's so far away from the residential tents. Barging in and searching through the cots isn't going to win you favor from any of the doctors here.” Lance says sternly. Pidge stops struggling and is looking at Lance with wide eyes before visibly deflating. Lance lets his face soften and gives Hunk the okay to let go of Pidge. Pidge touches down to the ground softly and looks up at Lance with apologetic eyes. Lance smiles gently and softly ruffles their hair which they huff at and immediately rush to fix. Lance turns and begins scanning the area, searching for anyone wearing a red tag, a symbol of a medical professional. He spots one exiting a tent. It's one of the native Rythue and Lance jogs over, raising a hand in greeting.

“Hello, excuse me.” Lance greets. The Rythue turns its lax and disarming gaze at him. Lance feels his eyes begin to droop slightly before shaking his head and regaining focus.

“Um, yeah so I was hoping you might be able to help us. One of my friends has gotten separated from their father and brother. They’re both human and share a strong resemblance to them.” Lance says gesturing to Pidge who was watching Lance anxiously. “They go by the names of Samuel and Matthew Holt, one of them arrived just a few days ago.” Lance says quickly describing them. The Rythue nods and watches him with a deep, curious gaze.

“Yes. I know of whom you speak. Human-Samuel has been of great assistance in the treatment of other patients and Human-Matthew is currently in quarantine.” The Rythue nods. Pidge hears the word _‘quarantine’_ and immediately rushes over.

“Is my brother sick? Are they alright?” Pidge asks urgently. The Rythue lifts a clawed hand and lets out a slight hum that makes Lance feel less tense and lightheaded, it has the same effect on Pidge who slowly stops their frantic babbling.

“Human-Matthew is fine, but he lacks the antibodies necessary for fighting simple diseases and as a result needs to be immunized. A slight walking sickness has swept through Block K-6 of the camp. If Human-Matthew were to contract it he would likely fall very ill.” The Rythue calmly explains to Pidge who hesitantly nods in understanding. The Rythue offers a gesture to follow them and begins leading them through the line of tents, taking an occasional turn before stopping in front of one.

“Human-Samuel and Human-Matthew are here. You may not physically interact with Human-Matthew, should you disobey this request you will be asked to leave.” The Rythue says serenely. Lance nods and turns to the other paladin who offer their own agreements. The Rythue finds their agreements satisfactory and scoots out of the way.

“You may proceed, I will supervise the visit for safety purposes.”

Pidge immediately launches themselves forward and passes through the cloth doors. Shiro follows closely on their heels, followed by Hunk and Keith. Lance enters last and looks around the room. One side of the room has what appears to be a clear light pink colored dome, laying over a cot where Matt is sitting up, watching them with wide eyes.

“Pidge?” A soft voice croaks out from the right. Lance turns his head and catches sight of Sam rising out of his hammock style bed, approaching Pidge with a disbelieving expression, his eyes shining brightly. He stretches out a shaking arm to touch Pidge as if unsure of whether or not they’re real. Pidge lets out a choking sound, remaining frozen in place, unable to take another step in his direction.

“D-Dad?” They ask. Pidge's hands are shaking as they try to rock their body forward into moving. Sam seems to realize that he's not dreaming and rushes forward, enveloping Pidge into a hug, tears streaming down his cheek as he trembles like a leaf. Pidge still hasn't moved but immediately wraps their arms around their father, tightly gripping his shirt.

“Dad.” They murmur. Wide eyes, steadily filling with tears, their face twisting like they're physically pained. Their body is vibrating in an attempt to control their overwhelming emotions. “Dad. Dad. Dad. You're here. _You're here. You're actually here._ ” Pidge is trembling to the point where it seems violent. Their voice is thick with tears, a few escaping and dropping down onto Sam where he has knelt on the ground and is enveloping Pidge in a tight hug with shaking arms.

“ _Dad!_ ” Pidge cries, collapsing in on themselves and burying their face into their father's neck, clinging to him like the desperately lost child they've been pretending they're not.

“I-I looked f-for you! _I looked so hard!_ ” Pidge sobs out as they  tightly clutch their father who is whispering shaky reassurances. “They told us you and Matt were gone! They s-s-said you were gone! _T-T-Those selfish bastards! I knew they were liars! Those shitty-shit-shi-_ ” Pidge spits out angrily unable to finish their sentences, sobs and heavy cries intertwining their words. Sam is nodding and stroking Pidge's hair, in a reassuring manner.

“It's okay. It's okay.” Sam murmurs gently to Pidge who is crying loudly, swallowing large gulps of air before releasing them into heaving sobs. Pidge's face is red and their tears are leaving salty tracks behind on their cheeks. Every emotion that they had been holding back is spilling out as they incoherently babble to their father who is nodding and whispering their sighs of relief that Pidge is safe, that they're okay. 

Lance watches the scene with happiness curling in his gut but also feels like he is intruding on a private moment between family and subtly taps the others and gestures for them to follow him outside and leave the tent. Hunk and Keith follow, as does Shiro, albeit reluctantly. The four of them stand silently outside the tent, hearing the muffled sound of Pidge's sobs.

“I didn't know Pidge was holding all that in.” Hunk murmurs, looking down sadly. Lance lightly pats his back in reassurance.

“You couldn't have known Hunk. Pidge acts so... _adult like_ that you sometimes forget they're only fourteen. Took me awhile to get that. Pidge is still a kid, and all they really wanted was to find their dad and brother.” Lance says softly.

“Still, I don't know how they’ve been able to hide it for so long.” Keith says, looking down. He didn't have a lot of experience in comfort and likely felt out of place in the room. Lance smiles slightly, he’s known Pidge long enough to know their tendencies.

“Pidge throws themselves into their work. Reprogramming their Lion, decrypting Galra stuff, learning about Altean tech-anything to distract themselves from what they're really feeling. It's why they've been so antsy lately, because there was nothing strong enough to distract them from the thought of seeing their dad and brother again.” Lance informs them. Shiro is glancing back to the tent every so often, shifting his weight and rubbing his hands together. He's nervous about the people inside and Lance knows what he's thinking.

“They don't blame you Shiro.” Lance says softly. Shiro gives him a slight glance before frowning slightly and releasing a stressed sigh.

“I know. I know that it's not logical to feel the way that I do but I can't help it. I just keep imagining how they might hate me for putting them through that.”

“That wasn't your fault!” Keith exclaims, looking slightly angry. “Zarkon is the reason you and Pidge's family got captured! All you did was fly the ship to Kerberos! And didn't you attack Matt to save his life? You're not to blame Shiro. You're a hero. You get me? _A hero._ ” Keith says fiercely, brimming with his usual protective feelings for his brother figure. Shiro looks stunned at Keith's declaration and smiles gratefully at him. Lance shoots Keith a thankful look, Keith had always been better at getting through to Shiro than any of them.

“Um guys, you can come in now” Pidge says quietly from the tent. Their face is still red and it's obvious they've been crying but most of the tear tracks have been rubbed away. It's clear Pidge is embarrassed but the others simply offer soft looks before entering the tent once again. Matt has risen from his cot and he seems to be in doing well enough, but Lance only has emergency medical care knowledge so for all he knows Matt could be...not fine. Matt’s face brightens upon seeing Shiro enter.

“Shiro!” He says relieved. “You’re okay!” He exclaims attempting to stand from his sitting position. Shiro immediately rushes forward.

“Wait don't strain yourself!” Shiro says worriedly. Matt scoffs and pushes himself up slightly, approaching the pink dome with a limp that Shiro has become focused on. Matt leans slightly against the dome, removing weight from his leg.

“Your leg…” Shiro trails off. Matt looks down slightly and shruggs.

“Turns out alien healthcare really isn't that much better than human healthcare. Lots of the nerves in my thigh are shot-I’ll never be the runway model I always wanted be.” Matt said in faux mourning.

“Incredible. I reunite with you in almost a year after we were kidnapped by aliens and the first thing you do is make jokes.” Shiro sighs lightly. He doesn't sound upset and is smiling at Matt so Lance assumes that the earlier distress has been mostly washed away at their casual conversation.

“You shoulda heard the joke I made to Pidge when they stopped crying their little bitch tears.” Matt says, smiling happily and ignoring the _‘Screw you!’_ from Pidge.

“And what was it?” Shiro asks amusedly. Matt leans in close to the bubble, Lance sees his red and puffy eyes and knows he's not as joking as he may appear to be, or _pretending_ to be. Lance can relate to that sort of person

“Guess who's whole and mentally sound. _Not me._ ” He whispers like it's a secret. Shiro lets a out a slight snort and shakes his head in fond exasperation. The two seemed more than relieved to see the other one alive. Lance never knew the depth of their friendship, Shiro had never opened up much about it despite his and Lance's own close friendship. Pidge had mentioned offhandedly once that Shiro had graduated a few years ahead of Matt and that they’d been on the same flight team but other than that there was nothing much that Lance knew about Matt. While in deep thought Lance didn't notice Sam introducing himself to each of the paladins one by one before stopping in front of Lance.

“Ah Lance it's wonderful to see you again!” Sam breaks in as Lance looks up, startled. Sam pulls him into a hug and Lance is forced to rest his chin on Sam’s wet shoulder where Pidge had been crying.

“Oh! Sam, I’m sorry I haven't been able to talk to you directly in awhile. I gave Nyma and Rolo messages to give to you.”

Sam nods against him and pulls back, smiling thankfully, his eyes shining with what can only be described as _gratitude_ , renewed tears begin to appear. “I did get their messages...Thank you Lance," He breathes out with a light sniffle," you brought my children back to me. I can never thank you enough for what you did.”

Lance feels a bit awkward, he'd gotten thanked for doing Voltron related work several times and on numerous different occasions but this was different. This was someone precious to Pidge who was expressing their gratitude and somehow it felt much more _meaningful_. Lance nods and smiles at Sam who offers him one more grateful smile before turning to Pidge who was standing by the dome, alongside Shiro and speaking lowly to Matt. Pidge's eyes were wet with unshed tears but they were smiling brightly and happily as they interacted with Matt.

Lance looked around in silent observation, Keith and Hunk were slowly approaching, having been waved over by Shiro as they all crowded by Matt and Sam to introduce themselves. Lance was relieved that Pidge no longer had to throw themselves into worry over the state of their family and finally had them back while, apparently, intent on introducing their team and brother and father to each other to reach some level of familiarity. A slight movement from the corner of his eye caught his attention. It was the Rythue supervisor who was slowly approaching him with heavy steps.

Lance offered a friendly smile to the Rythue. These guys always put him slightly more on guard than usual despite their natural allure to trust. Even though Lance knew they were safe and would never do harm, he couldn't help but be a bit defensive because they could sniff out inner turmoil like bloodhounds, good for people who had yet to come terms with events of their life-bad for people like Lance who, while aware of their issues, would much prefer to put it to side to be dealt with at another time.

“You are not interacting with them.” The Rythue states as he arrives beside Lance. Lance shruggs slightly.

“I just wanna give them a chance to bond.” Lance says.

“Without you?” They ask.

“I already have a close relationship with them I figure it’d be more effective if they were allowed to come closer together.” Lance explains. It makes sense to him. He knows  and is more familiar with Sam and on some level, Matt and they know who he is and his intentions. They do not, however, know Shiro, Pidge, Keith, or Hunk enough yet . So Lance is happy to take a backseat this time and watch them come together.

“Do you feel isolated from your friends and family despite your best efforts?” The Rythue asks in a gentle voice. Lance feels himself unconsciously nodding before freezing and turning to face the Rythue.

“Woah, okay, alright, not cool. Just because I’m _kind of_ a little off some days and don't always admit what I feel doesn't mean I need you to bring my issues _‘to light’_ or something.” Lance says in a low tone, glancing over at the others to see if they had noticed anything off.

“I do not mean to intrude Human-Lance. But I am Rythue it is my nature to be of assistance and I sense great distress in you.” They say softly.

“Well if that's the case shouldn't you be offering your assistance to Sam or Matt or Shiro? I think they’d benefit from it a lot more than I would.” Lance says, gesturing slightly to them.

“That is only because you assume that their suffering is greater than yours. We all suffer and feel pain Human-Lance, no one's is more important than another's.” The Rythue responds. Lance stares up at their dark, gentle eyes. Despite their slightly unnerving appearance with their long snout and clawed hands the Rythue are actually among the more gentle species of alien that Lance has ever met. His current interaction is evidence of that fact.

“Perhaps a xanta would make you feel more open to the prospect of seeking assistance?” The Rythue asks. Lance squints slightly in confusion.

“I’ve never heard of a _‘xanta’_ what is that?” He asks curiously.

“A xanta is similar to a friend or companion, but is more so an open heart that offers you unconditional positive regard perhaps you may feel more comfortable with someone you are already close to.” The Rythue says calmly.

Just as Lance opens his mouth to respond, he hears Keith calling him over.

“Lance are you coming or what?” Keith asks as he waves him over. The others have turned to look at him and are giving him various looks of curiosity. Lance smiles slightly and goes to approach them, while also using it as a chance to escape his current conversation. The Rythue taps his shoulder and Lance looks back slightly.

“You may find it hard to admit at times Human-Lance but we all need some help every now and again. It looks to me as though your friends care deeply for you, would it not pain them to know of your suffering?”

Lance bites his lip slightly. He had been pushing aside some of his more distressing thoughts but that was what he's always done. Was it a good system? Probably not. But it worked good enough for him. The look on the Rythue’s face told Lance he knew what he was thinking. Lance released a deep sigh and nodded slightly to the alien, holding his arm in a light grip.

“I know. I’ll try to work on it.” Lance whispers before turning and sidling up to Keith was watching him curiously.

“What happened?” He asked, looking over at the observing Rythue.

“Nothing, just some stuff about bubble boy over here.”

Matt lets out an offended gasp.

“It is a _dome_ you uncultured swine.”

Lance lets out a slight snort.

“Why are you in there anyway?” Pidge asks curiously.

“Just precautions, Earth is apparently ‘primitive’ and ‘underdeveloped’ so we don't have any immunity against the space common cold.” Matt says.

“They describe our planet as that?” Shiro asks, confused.

“Well more like the two guys and their robot who saved me did.” Matt says as Sam nods in agreement. Lance winces at the realization that hits him.

“Yeah...that one might be my fault. I may have told them that we were from a baby planet to make sure you guys could be given proper treatment.” Lance says sheepishly. The others turned their gazes to him.

“You called our planet _‘primitive’_ and _‘underdeveloped’_? Geez Lance, way to represent the human race.” Pidge mutters. The others give slight murmurs of agreement as Lance pouts.

“Wait!” Hunk yells suddenly, the others are startled at the noise. “If Sam and Matt had to get their protection against alien disease, then what about the rest of us? Are we at risk? Could we catch a space virus that eats faces?!” Hunk yells loudly, beginning to panic.

“Don't worry about it Hunk, the castle did it for us when we first got scanned the day Blue brought us.” Lance assures him. Lance doesn't mention that it wouldn't protect them from getting human diseases and infections but figured they'd find it out eventually.

Lance watches, amused as the others continue their conversation between themselves and Pidge's family. Shiro turning a light pink whenever Matt and Sam would mention something embarrassing about him. Sam claps Shiro on the back in a familiar way. Lance lets the happy smile turn more fond. _He's done good. This is good._ Keith purposely nudges his hand and Lance looks down in surprise as he intertwines their fingers together. Lance smiles happily and tightly grips Keith's hand. _This is good._

XxX

Pulling Pidge away from the tent had been all but impossible, finally it was agreed that Pidge would be allowed to stay the next two nights with Sam and Matt before they had to leave. Pidge had been close to starting another argument before Hunk offered to swipe another communicator from Coran so they could talk to their family which Pidge instantly agreed to. While they had at first wanted to bring them along, Sam had voiced a protest about leaving, figuring he would be able to help more people by remaining in the camp and the fact that Matt wasn't suited for intense travel anymore. Lance had also reluctantly voiced his own argument of carrying them along in a warship that could and has been invaded on numerous occasions. With the combined logic, Pidge had reluctantly agreed to leave their family behind, in the secure camp that they could still visit between missions.

Lance had initially been concerned about giving a good initial impression to Sam and Matt but apparently hadn't had to worry as both seemed to find his presence reassuring, crediting him, Rolo, Nyma, and Beezer for their newfound freedom.

Lance watched alongside the other paladins as Allura happily greeted Pidge’s father and brother on their last day at the camp, shaking their hands in large, exaggerated motions, likely trying to adapt the ‘human greeting’ after seeing them each shake Sam and the newly dome-freed Matt goodbye.

Sam and Matt both seemed fascinated by Allura and her Altean markings and ears, both asking her questions about her anatomy which she gladly answered. Pidge had mentioned how her brother and father had both started journals of the different species they were meeting. To them this must’ve been like a dream come true (except for the part where they were in prison and forced into labor camps for a little over a year.)

As Lance and the others boarded the castle ship Lance caught sight if the Rythue who had overseen their visit the first day. They were watching Lance with a questioning gaze. There was still the uncomfortable pit in his stomach of exposing himself in such a private way to a complete stranger but...it's not like he could keep setting everything to the side and expecting things to get better. What had happened when he told the others of his actions was just a testament of the fact that he couldn't hope to contain everything forever.

With a slight nod to the Rythue Lance slowly entered the castle at a much more sedate pace than the others. _‘A xantha, huh?’_. Lance thought to himself as the other paladins slowly retreated to their own proper rooms.

Shiro was out of the question, as much as he admired and felt comfortable speaking to him of personal matters the current Shiro was in the process of healing as well, and to tack his own problems along would just be plain selfish.

Pidge was on cloud nine, and Lance's (admittedly depressing) thoughts would just make them lose the happy high they've had going for the last few days.

And Keith, sweet sweet Keith, while would likely jump at the chance to help him work through it, bless his heart, would also have no idea about what to do. Keith dealt with feelings clumsily- a lack of experience is what Lance would call it, and while Lance loathed to admit it, Keith's eagerness would just not be enough- he needed someone to ground him, help him realize what was wrong, and help him rationalize his intrusive thoughts.

As Lance turned a corner he caught sight of Hunk sliding into his own room. Hunk who always tried to make sure he was happy and comfortable. Hunk who consistently expressed concern over his well being. Hunk who always entertained Lance's eccentricities. Hunk who befriended him in the fourth grade when he saw he had no one to sit with at lunch. Hunk who had helped Lance when he was struggling to raise his son while pining pathetically after Keith. Hunk who had been his best man at his wedding. Hunk who had always been there even when Lance didn't notice it. Who offered Lance friendship and understanding while never asking for anything in return. His xantha. Hunk was his xantha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it is such a surprise to me to that this did not end on a cliff hanger. but just so you know what's coming next time-hunk is a beautiful god that finally helps lance realize what's wrong, the rest of the team finally meets lotor and zarkon's anticipated end begins.


	14. xanta baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lance cries and both lotor and keith can be such pieces of shit to each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you bet your ass i had the time of my life making that chapter title pun

Despite knowing that Hunk would _never_ turn him away in a time of need Lance still stood outside his door for almost an hour, trying to work up the nerve to knock. He’d never...asked for help before-it was always offered, he’d never had to ask. What was he supposed to say? What was he supposed to ask for? What did he want? Well he wanted to stop feeling like stomped over crap that was for sure... But what if Hunk couldn’t fix it? As much as Lance would like to believe that Hunk was an angel, he was just a person (the greatest person Lance knows, but still a person). But Hunk had never let him down before, even if he didn’t offer Lance an instant fix, just being able to _talk_ to someone could help.

Lance takes a steadying breath and knocks a total of three times on Hunk’s door, he waits anxiously for four tics before turning and getting ready to leave, it's at that moment that the door slides open and a curious Hunk peers out, smiling instantly when he sees Lance.

“Lance!” He exclaims happily, bouncing slightly in place like an eager puppy. Despite the bone deep weariness he feels Lance still allows a fond smile to tug at his lips.

“Hunk.” Lance says softly. Without another word from Lance Hunk steps to the side and gestures for Lance to enter. Lance smiles gratefully and steps inside. Hunk’s room is identical to every other paladin’s room but there's just something about it that makes it feel more...homey. Without noticing Lance's observant gaze Hunk gently tugged Lance over to his bed and pushed him down to sit.

“So what are you doing in this neck of the woods?” Hunk asked, slightly joking. Lance feels his grin became slightly strained, there’s been _something_ tickling at the edge all day, like anticipation but not the good kind. It made him uneasy, uncomfortable, like there was something creeping under his skin. Lance lets out a shaky breath and leans slightly towards Hunk so his forehead rests on one of his shoulders. Hunk makes a slightly worried noise.

“Lance?” He asks, hesitantly. “Are you okay?”

Gosh. _Okay_. Lance doesn't think he's been truly okay for a long time. Instead of responding Lance just shakes his head against Hunk’s shoulder.

“ _Oh_ .” Hunk says gently, and brings up his hands to rest on Lance's shoulders. Hunk is rubbing soothing circles into his back and Lance feels slightly reassured, not _good_ , but safe. Lance releases an exhausted sigh against Hunk’s shoulder and leans back slightly to look into Hunk’s concerned cow brown eyes. Hunk always had the nicest eyes; soft, gentle, expressive eyes. Lance loved them.

“I’m tired Hunk.” Lance whispers in a weaker voice than he would like.

“Have you been sleeping enough?” Hunk asks innocently because none of the paladins have yet suffered the exhaustion deeper than simple sleep deprivation. Lance once again shakes his head.

“It's not that.” Lance croaks out. His voice is beginning to crack and Hunk must've noticed because he rearranges Lance so he's practically sitting in his lap.

Lance rests his head against Hunk’s warm chest and listens to his heartbeat drum against his ear. Lance takes slow, deep breaths because there's an anxiousness seeping into him, a pain in his gut, and a ball in his throat. Lance feels drained...but more than that he feels so inexplicably _sad_. And why? Why does he feel like that? Everything he's been working towards since he woke up in his old Garrison dorm room is finally going right. He saved Ulaz and Thace and Antok. Saved Alfor’s memory. Brought Shiro closure. Brought Pidge her family. Helped Lotor. Helped Nyma and Rolo. Helped Slav. He did good, he helped people- he was working by the paladin code, like he always did…so then why? Why does he feel like….nothing.

Lance releases a slight whimper and curls further into Hunk, there's a familiar sting in his eyes as he presses his cheek further against Hunk's chest.

Hunk’s chest used to be bigger...thicker...more muscular. It was chest that had gone through years of hard and intense training, but now it was slightly soft. _This_ Hunk was fighting his first couple battles- lifting and running with a heavy machine gun and probably wouldn't acquire anything resembling his Hunk’s chest for a few months. Hunk. _His_ Hunk. Who was somewhere _far away_ in the future-who can't hold Lance when he has a fight with Keith. Who can’t benchpress Lance when he wants to make their grandchildren laugh. Who can't be here. Who's not _here_ . Who may never be here again because Lance changed _everything_. Lance feels his breathing became harsher.

Hunk lightly taps Lance's cheek with a finger and Lance looks up at Hunk’s concerned gaze.

“Bro?”

That did something. That casual phrase that _his_ Hunk always called him by, it didn't even mean anything significant.

But hearing Hunk say it sparked something in Lance and he buried his face into Hunk’s chest when the wave of emotions hit him. Happiness. Sadness. Longing. Loneliness. Love. Pain. So much Pain. Lance is trembling in Hunk’s arms and trying to desperately to refrain himself from crying, it would just scare Hunk who might go to the others for help but Lance didn't want everyone to know, just Hunk. Only Hunk. Because Hunk is always there for him….But not now... _his_ Hunk is somewhere he can't reach. Lance couldn't stop the tears no matter how hard he tried.

“Lance?!” Hunk asks desperately, concern coating every letter of his name. Lance blubbers out what may have been a response.

“Buddy talk to me, _please_ ,” Hunk begs, bringing the softly sobbing Lance closer. Lance shakes his head.

“Yes you can,” Hunk insists, as he carefully wipes away Lance’s tears. Lance bites his lip sharply, nearly enough to draw blood.

“I-I miss Hunk.” Lance manages to choke out. Hunk freezes around him and Lance can feel his confusion even without him verbalizing it.

“Buddy, I’m right here. Alright? I’m right here, it's okay.” Hunk whispers gently into Lance's ear. But it's _not_ . It's not _okay_ . Because he misses Hunk, _his_ Hunk. But not only that, he misses everyone, he misses his home. He misses home and it's _not okay_ , _he’s_ not okay. _It's not okay. Not okay. Not okay. Not okay_

“ _It's not okay!_ ”Lance yells suddenly, startling Hunk.

“No! It's not okay because _you're_ far away and _Keith_ is far away and _Shiro_ and _Pidge_ and _Allura_ and _Coran_ and-and-and- _I WANT TO GO HOME_ !” Lance screams into his hands as he covered his face to hide the waterfall of tears that were spilling out. He's crying. He's upset. Because he missed his best friend. Missed his husband. Missed his children. His grandchildren. His fucking bed, his fucking clothes, goddamnit even his _toothbrush_! He missed his _family_ and his _life_ and he's never going to see them again- but he still has to wake up _everyday_ and smile and laugh with his  _new_ family and try to act like he's not hurting.

Lance is heaving for breath on Hunk’s lap as he lets _everything_ spill out. Hunk has hesitantly begun wrapping his arms around Lance, cradling him softly in his arms like he's a baby chick. Lance has a white knuckle grip on Hunk's clothes as he muffled his cries in his shoulders.

Lance doesn't know how long Hunk held him because by the time he exhausted himself from crying he was too tired to care. Hunk was holding him gently and made no move to change that. Hunk's quiet gaze was still on him and Lance felt a little guilty at the fact that he had just dropped a ball on Hunk with no warning.

“Sorry.” Lance murmured slightly. Hunk lightly gripped Lance’s arm and hummed lowly.

“It's okay.” Hunk says quietly and looks unsure when Lance lifts his head away from Hunk's tear soaked shoulder. Lance rubs away the dried tears on his cheeks and sniffles slightly, wiping away the wetness from his eyes and trying to rein back some sense of dignity.

“Sorry,” Lance repeats as he sits up in Hunk’s lap, “for all….this.” Lance says gesturing to himself. Hunk stays silent for a little while before releasing a deep sigh.

“Lance you know I love you right? You're my best friend, I can't imagine my life without you, so…you can tell me what's wrong right?” Hunk says softly. _‘He’s right. Hunk just wants to help, we can open up to him and he won't hate us for it. We can open up. Just open up. Just tell him. Tell him’_

Lance clenches his hands and lets his nails dig into his soft palms slightly before responding.

“I-I know that...but it's so hard sometimes because...because,” Lance takes a shaky breath and forces himself to calm down, “-a few months ago we were older and closer and we-we had all these _memories_ together and now that’s all just _‘poof’_ ” Lance says with a strained voice as he looks down at his lap and away from Hunk’s concerned gaze.

“Oh Lance.” Hunk says sadly.

“It's not that I don't love you guys too _I do_ ...but that was my _life_ ya know? That was my _family_ . And...and they're _gone_ Hunk...They're just _gone_...How do you-...How do you get over something like that?” Lance chokes out as he feels fresh tears spring up. Hunk pulls Lance down to him and engulfs him a tight hug.

“How do I-. No. Umm. What do I?-. No, that's not right either,” Hunk says lowly sounding slightly frustrated, “I want to help, I _need_ to help you” Hunk says looking at Lance earnestly.

“It's just-” Hunk lets out a light sigh. “I don’t know man... I wish I could just fix everything ya know?” He says frowning slightly, sadness clear in his eyes.

Yeah, Lance knew.

“But...I don’t know how to fix this...I can't-I can’t bring them back Lance,...and I can't guarantee we’ll be the same this time around but...I can try to be that person for you. I may never be the Hunk you knew but I can tell you that I’ll still try to do right by you.” Hunk says softly, looking determined. Lance feels slightly stunned at the declaration and smiles lightly, letting himself fall against Hunk.

There's still a deep weariness plaguing him but there’s an undertone of _relief_ and that was more than he could've asked for, he came to Hunk knowing fully that he wouldn't be able to leave healed and free of his problems but the reassurement that there was someone who still had his back was more than he could've asked for. Yeah he may have lost everything and had to start from scratch all over again, and he may or may not be losing his mind with worry and guilt and anxiety over his sudden departure from his life...but Hunk was here. And things could get better...or at least less awful and it wasn't like he was absolutely alone. He still had people who cared about him and maybe they weren't the family he had known but they were people who worried and loved him and the least he could do was be grateful that they were there at all.

Lance smiles slightly and releases a deep sigh, fully relaxing in Hunk's arms and plopping down against him.

“Thank you.” Lance murmurs quietly. Hunk smiles a watery smile down at him and brings Lance closer.

“Anytime. I just wish there was more I could do.” Hunk whispers back, his forehead creasing slightly in displeasure. Lance shakes his head.

“You’ve done enough, just being here is good enough for me.” Lance whispers back. Lance was almost content to lay there for the rest of night-but there was something he had to ask first-

“Do you think I’ll ever get over it?” Lance asks quietly, almost afraid of the answer. Hunk sits silently for a few seconds, rolling the question over in his mind.

“I think that...people don't ever really recover from terrible things in their life-I wish I could say that one day you'll be better and it'll be like it never happened but to say that would just erase the suffering you went through,” Hunk murmurs slightly, looking pensive, “..I guess what I want to say is that... maybe some days you’ll feel better about it and some days you won't. All I know is that- time does not bring relief.” Hunk said looking down at Lance with regretful eyes.  Lance lays quietly in Hunk's arms, it was the truth. Hunk was being honest and Lance respected that... but that didn't make it hurt any less. Normally he would feel a sting in his eyes at the idea that he may never get over losing his family and everything he had ever created-losing the home he had carved for himself while wandering the galaxy with people who had once been strangers. And _strangers_...that's what they all were at one point right? Lance was able to connect with them. This was no different, other than that they were the people he had grown to love...only they didn't seem to hold that same familiar regard he had for him...yet. At that thought Lance felt fondness bloom in his chest and rather than cry, looked up at Hunk with a tiny smile.

“ _‘Time does not bring relief,’_ huh? Nothing like some Edna St.Vincent to bring you back down to Earth.” Lance mumbles slightly, knowing the bafflement that would follow. Hunk shoots him the expected confused gaze.

“What?” He asks before his face opens in realization and he shakes his head in a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

“One of your poetry writers wrote what I just said didn't they? Man why do you still bother remembering those lines?” Hunk asks slightly amused. Lance feels a little affronted, he had spent so much time memorizing poetry when he was younger for the sole purpose of attracting romantic attention and to have that challenged...

“Bro don’t diss my romantic side- everyone digs a guy who can quote Shakespeare.” Lance immediately fires back, a slight grin tugging at his lips.

“Really? Name one person that it ever worked on, _other_ than your mom.” Hunk responds, a grin taking over his face.

Lance opens his mouth to answer but stops short-it never  _had_ actually worked. Aliens didn't understand Earth poetry, it was like the equivalent of telling them the instructions to repair an AC-they just didn't get it. Lance's mouth clicks shut and the two of them stare at each other for a full minute.

“...We’re in space it doesn't count.” Lance says.

And like that the remaining tension in the room breaks as the two let out slight snickers.

“Not even on Keith?” Hunk asks over his barely suppressed giggle. Lance freezes.

“Bro…” Lance whispers, wide-eyed. Hunk laughs louder at his expression.  Is Keith a fan of of poetry? Specifically sonnets? Because that's what Lance remembers best. Hunk claps a hand on his shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts. Lance looks up and sees that despite the smile on Hunk's face his eyes still shine with concern.

“Seriously though, are you alright?” He asks. Lance lets silence hang in the room for a few seconds before responding.

“I will be.” He says quietly. It's not okay. But maybe one day...but for now he still had Hunk, still had Keith. Things would get better. They certainly couldn't get worse. With that thought Lance lets out a large breath of air, letting his shoulders slump. He was tired, but for once it wasn’t emotionally tied. Laying back on Hunk he closes his eyes as his friend begins braiding the slightly longer sections of his hair.

“You know Keith strikes me as a ‘John Keats’ kinda guy.” Hunk says offhandedly. Lance snickers.

“That's a shame- Shakespeare was always my go-to you think he'd mind?” Lance smiles tiredly up at Hunk. Hunk shrugs.

“He’s your boyfriend.”

“Husband actually.” Lance says just as he feels his consciousness begin to slip. Hunk freezes above him, his fingers stopping their slight tugging at his hair.

“Wait, what?” Hunk asks incredulously. Lance smiles, his eyes still closed and sleepiness finally catching up to him.

“Woah Lance wake up! You can't just leave me hanging here I need details!” Hunk says urgently, slightly shaking his shoulder. But Lance is already gone, the last thing he hears being Hunk’s huffs of annoyance.

_‘Somethings really do never change.’_

XxX

It was a few days after leaving the refugee colony that Kolivan called a meeting of all the paladins and Allura.

“As you all are aware Zarkon is currently in the midst of fighting the war on two fronts- Prince Lotor and Voltron. It is three if you include the Blade of Marmora. The Blades that are still stationed within Zarkon's ranks have informed me that now is the best time to strike-Zarkon's forces have begun to be spread thin as the loss of ⅓ of the Empire’s army to Prince Lotor have severely debilitated shipping and trade.” Kolivan informs them following morning training.

“How do you you propose we act on this information?” Allura asks curiously. She had built a mutual respect with Kolivan, when alone their interactions were mainly awkward staring but when it came to planning attacks and formulating strategies the two were unbeatable.

“The Blade worked out a plan many decafeebs ago but I have refrained from initiating it until now.” Kolivan explains.

“On what reasoning?” Allura asks, confused.

“On mine.” Lance interjects. “I told Kolivan that it wasn't time to begin the Blade’s final solution until we were sure that the Galra public could be potentially swayed in our favor” Lance says as they all turn their eyes to him.

“Was that an issue for us...before?” Shiro asks, somewhat hesitant.

“It presented a number of...difficulties but nothing that couldn't be repaired with time and effort but I figured it better if we asserted Voltron as a reliable figure after we discredit Zarkon.” Lance says truthfully.

“But Zarkon's the Emperor of the Galra, can we really do that?” Pidge pondered.

“Well it's not so much _us_ as it is Lotor who's going to do it.” Lance answered. The others immediately became unsure, glancing at each other questioningly. Keith shifted uncomfortably from his side before piping up.

“Can we really trust him though? I know you said you've met him but that doesn't mean he won't betray us, he is Zarkon's son.” Keith said. Lance nods in agreement before responding.

“You’re right, Lotor is Zarkon's son, but he’s different. I know you don't have much reason to trust him other than my word but I assure you that Lotor is on our side.” Lance offers. Allura still seems reluctant to believe it but it looks like Pidge and Hunk seem somewhat onboard and nod in Lance's direction. Lance turns to face Keith and Shiro. Shiro looks apprehensive but eventually nods in slight agreement. Keith is clenching his jaw and looks like he's mulling over Lance's words.

“You trust him though?” Keith finally asks, looking at Lance with furrowed brows. Lance smiles gently at him before responding.

“Yes.”

Keith sighs deeply, looking clearly unsure but lets out a murmur of assent. Lance smiles gratefully at them, turning to face Kolivan who had remained silent through the slight disagreement. Just as Lance opens his mouth to speak Allura chimes in.

“Wait.” She says, drawing all their eyes toward her, she's staring at Lance intensely.

“Lance you are one of my paladins and I respect your words but I need more than that. I need to meet Lotor face to face if I am to trust him enough to collaborate him.” She declared, meeting Lance’s eyes in a determined gaze.

“I admit I thought it was a bit of a longshot at first to get you to agree. But if you insist, I think we can take a detour to neutral grounds if Lotor agrees to it.” Lance says, turning to shoot Kolivan a meaningful look. Kolivan nods and marches to Coran’s control panel, typing in a few coordinates and bringing up an image of three planets orbiting a small star, at least a wormhole away.

“The Blades part of Lotor’s guard tells me he has established his base among the planets of Vaka, I personally view it as a bit...risky but he has managed to keep out of sight from Zarkon's forces, how exactly I’m not entirely sure myself.” Kolivan says wearily. Lance agrees because _of all_ the places Lotor could have chosen, he chose to hide in plain sight.

“What's wrong with “Vaka”? Is it dangerous or something?” Pidge asks, seeing the slightly exasperated looks on both Lance and Kolivan's faces.

“No…” Lance says, trailing off.

“It's just unconventional.” Kolivan adds.

“Vaka are...vacation planets.” Lance finally says.

“What?” Shiro asks incredulously, the others seem to share his confused surprise and turn to Kolivan and Lance with questioning gazes.

“They're luxury planets where the rich and upper class go to enjoy food, relaxation, and culture it’s not exactly a place you make into a war base.” Lance explains. It really isn't. But at the same time this is Lotor, if he's going to war he's going to do it in style. Lance should’ve expected this.

“...This is the guy we're pinning our hopes on?” Keith asks, a slight grimace on his face. Lance wants to agree but he can’t.

“Lotor can be a bit….high maintenance. But that doesn't mean he's not reliable.” Lance interjects. “He's very charismatic and that's good when you need people on your side.” Lance explains, attempting to defend Lotor a bit. Most people don't have a high opinion of Lotor, often categorizing him as incompetent because of his interests (Lance knows how that can feel) but Lance knows that underneath all that...stuff he really is a great ruler-he’d proved that to Lance and the others several times over the years.

The others looked unsure but didn't voice any protests. Lance is thankful for the trust they're putting in him and turns to Kolivan who enters the coordinates into the ship’s navigation system before turning away.

“I’ll send an alert message of our arrival to Marmora members with Lotor, he should expect us when we arrive.” Kolivan explains, leaving the room to use the communicator held by Antok. Antok and Coran were both in the ship's bay, modifying escape pods for emergency battleship use. Once Kolivan leaves there's a tone of silence in the room, no one moving to say anything. Lance doesn't know if Hunk said something to the others but they’ve all been slightly quieter around him, as though unsure how to act. Keith especially has made a point of standing much closer to Lance, which while slightly unusual is not unwelcome. The silence has begun to stretch into the territory of awkward and Lance feels like he should say something.

“Soooo, how have you all been?” Lance asks. The others offer unintelligible murmurs and Lance sighs slightly. Hunk definitely blabbed.

“You guys do know I still like you right? I’m not trying to use you as replacements it's just that...it's so recent so it's taking me a bit of time. But that doesn't mean I don't love you guys just as much.” Lance confessed looking at them earnestly. His words seem to do something because they relax slightly, shooting him sheepish and unsure smiles, he can see a light dusting of pink on Shiro and Pidge's cheeks and calls it a success. Allura appears to take this as a cue and marches towards the command of the castle.

“I’ll make the jump now, the rest of you suit up so that we can immediately descend to Vaka when we arrive. Lance and the others nod, making their way to their hangers. Lance enters the Blue Lion’s lift and turns to see the others doing the same. His eyes meet Keith's from across the room and he offers a bright smile. Keith's mouth curls up slightly, waving his hand at him in return. The door closes and Lance happily dresses in his armour, making sure to check his gauntlets for damage he may have missed since the last battle, the mistake had almost cost him his life once and he wasn't about to let a repeat happen. Lance hears the system alert of a wormhole jump and waves it away, pulling on the paladin body suit and adjusting his belt. The process is so mechanical he does it purely from muscle memory, his mind drifting towards Lotor. They hadn't seen each other since Lotor ran away and Lance gave him a ride back to Fruye. He had apparently acted on Lance's words but that doesn't mean he was going to be particularly welcoming to Lance. But there was only one way to find out for sure and that was to go down to Vaka and meet Lotor face to face again. But this probably wouldn't end in bloodshed...probably.

XxX

Lance really should be used to being wrong. This is what he gets for jumping to conclusions. But that wasn't very fair because this time it wasn't even his bad divination skills, it was more so Allura and Keith's almost _intrinsic_ dislike of Lotor. They hadn't even met him yet and they both already looked like they were itching for a fight.

Lance watched them warily from the corner of his eye, the second planet of Vaka is apparently where Lotor was currently residing and where the Galra ships instructed them to land. Lance was just as unnerved as the others as they carefully flew through a slew of Galra vessels, slightly on guard considering the pavlovian response to seeing the purple warships was to get to their Lions and start attacking. But instead, the ships were stationed around the planets of Vaka, not even paying any sort of attention to the Castle of Lions as it made to land. Lotor was supposed to meet them with his entourage at the site and Lance still wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. Allura and Keith seemed too on edge so Lance subtly nudged Shiro, drawing his attention.

“Shiro when we land put Keith in the back and put Hunk by Allura in case he needs to hold her back.”

Shiro looks vaguely concerned and shoots a slight look up at the clenched jaws of Keith and Allura who seemed to be vibrating in anticipation.

“What's wrong with them?” Shiro whispered. Lance sighs and shrugs.

“Honestly? Even I don't know. Neither of them ever really liked Lotor, even when they had no reason to actually _distrust_ him. It would’ve hurt his feelings if he ever noticed how much they disliked him so we were always on standby whenever he made a surprise visit.” Lance explains. Shiro nods and walks over to Hunk’s chair and leans down to whisper instructions for if Allura seemed to get hostile. Lance lets out a deep sigh and moves to stand beside Keith, who’s chewing on his lip as he watches the castle sensors signify an arrival on the planet. Keith immediately turns on his heel, moving in the direction of the Castle's exit. Lance rushes to his side and grasps his hand, lacing their fingers together. Keith startles and turns to look at him surprise and then down at their hands.

“Calm down mullet-man, Lotor's actually not that bad when you get to know him, so give him a chance?” Lance asks slightly. Keith doesn't lose his tense stance but his shoulders lower slightly.

“Fine...but if he starts something I won't hold back.” Keith says reluctantly. Lance nods happily. Lotor may act dumb but he’s not an idiot.

XxX

“Your ship is ugly, have you considered redecorating?” Is the first thing Lotor says when they touch down on the ground to meet him.

Lance almost wants to cry at how bad the meeting is going already.

Kolivan is apparently choosing to ignore the sudden tension and instead begins setting up the portable holo-player between the two groups.

Lance awkwardly shifts beside Allura, unsure of what to say. He had never really understood her and Keith's almost _ingrained_ dislike of Lotor- well, alright that was a bit of a lie, he did understand. Lotor had the tendency to be very... _himself_. But Lance had come to see Lotor as more of the irritating and weird cousin you only ever saw during the holidays and at weddings. And since he still carried some guilt over what happened when Lotor ran away he quickly stepped up and left Allura’s annoyed side in order to hold out a hand in greeting to Lotor (And hopefully stop him from digging himself into a deeper hole). Lotor looked at his hand curiously before leaning down and peering at Lance's face, his eyes widening in surprise.

“Oh it's you again, you keep coming back to me I’m starting to believe you might be obsessed with me.” Lotor says casually, before gazing down at Lance’s extended hand. Lance breaths through his nose and ignores the slight flash of annoyance he feels.

“My name is Lance and it's just a handshake, I’m greeting you.” Lance says, still holding his hand out. Lotor narrows his eyes slightly and cautiously reaches out with two fingers to pinch Lance's wrist in confusion.

“No, uh, it's like this.” Lance says lightly, maneuvering Lotor's hand into his and pumping it down twice before letting go. Lotor raises his hand to his face and looks at it in slight fascination.

“Contact greetings? How primitive, does your species not fear the spread of disease?” Lotor asks curiously.

“No, I guess not? I mean just wash your hands and you should be fine.” Lance explains as Lotor nods distractedly and wipes his hand down on the side of his red body suit.

“Anyway Lotor, I’m part of Voltron and we came to talk to you-”

“-About forming an alliance to take down my father.” Lotor cuts off Lance. Lance tries to ignore the resurgence annoyance he feel. _‘He doesn't know any better Lance, just stick it out, it won't be like this forever.’_

“Yeah...so this is Princess Allura,” Lance says, turning to gesture to a tense Allura who offers an uncomfortable smile that is mainly teeth at Lotor.

“Ah, yes Princess!” Lotor says enthusiastically striding over to Allura, holding out his hand similarly to how Lance had. Allura smiles(which is really more of a grimace) and holds out her hand as well. The two grip each other's hands and Lotor immediately lets out a slight whimper. Lance quickly steps over and sees Allura holding Lotor's hand in a bone crushing grip.

“Ah, quite the grip Princess.” Lotor manages to grit out, unsubtly attempting to rip his hand away.

“Allura let him go!” Lance exclaims, wrapping his hand around her wrist and attempting to pull her vice like grip away from Lotor. Allura reluctantly lets go and Lotor immediately backs away, ducking behind Lance and watching Allura with wary eyes.

“Alright. Well that could've gone better.” Lance says, shooting Allura a slight disapproving look.

“I should say so.” Lotor mutters behind his ear. Lance steps away from him and turns to face Lotor fully, the others at his back.

“So aside from Allura, this is Shiro, the Black paladin” Lance says pointing to Shiro who lifts a hand in greeting.

“Hello.” He says, slightly hesitant. Lotor nods in his direction.

“There's Hunk, the Yellow paladin.”

“Hi.” Hunk smiles gently and waves slowly.

“Pidge, the Green paladin.”

“Hey.” Pidge says, slightly nodding.

“And finally Keith, the Red paladin.”

Keith doesn't offer any words of greeting and instead stares at Lotor, who stares back.

“Are you not going to greet me?” Lotor asks.

Keith's face twists slightly in annoyance.

“Why? Lance already told you who I was.” He says, not quite hostile, but not exactly nice. Lotor notices immediately and bristles slightly.

“It was a simple question Red one no need to be so insecure.”

“I am _not insecure_!” Keith fires back, stepping forward. Lance immediately blocks him from moving any further.

“Keith, remember what we’re here for.” Lance whispers lowly. Keith relaxes slightly and pulls back.

Lance turns back to face a slightly smirking Lotor.

“It's comforting to know you will protect me from them _Laaance_.” Lotor says, rolling his name slightly. Lance knows instantly what he's doing. Lotor is more perceptive than people give him credit for. But he's also a little shit.

Keith tenses up behind him.

“Lotor stop doing that.” Lance sighs.

“Doing what?” Lotor asks innocently.

“Don't play innocent, you know what you're doing now cut it out, we’re here for serious matters.” Lance says. Lotor shrugs slightly.

“If you wish to pretend there is nothing between us be my guest.” He says casually.

“There _is_ nothing between us.” Lance says.

“That night we spent together says otherwise.” Lotor sing-songed. Lance closes his eyes and shakes his head, not even bothering to stop Keith who maneuvered around him, his fist pulled back for the punch of the century. _‘He deserves this.’_ Lance thinks to himself. Hearing the sound of fist-on-face and Lotor's startled cry.

XxX

It takes both Lance and Shiro to pull Keith away from Lotor who was now nursing a bruised cheek and glaring vehemently at Keith who was glaring back, just as fiercely.

“Look Lotor, we came here because we want to take down Zarkon once and for all and we need your help to do it. I know we may have gotten off on the wrong foot-especially you and me, but we're all friend here, alright?” Lance says tiredly. Keith and Lotor were a combination they had avoided at all cost as often as possible before and he really should’ve prepared better.

Lotor looks down at Lance curiously.

“Friends?” He asks. Lance nods.

“Yeah. Friends. So can we all set aside our differences for now and talk about taking down Zarkon!” Lance yells, turning to face both Allura and the other paladins as well as Lotor. Both groups look reluctantly at the other before nodding slightly and looking towards Kolivan who had been standing patiently by his holo-player the entire time. _‘Kolivan you are too good for this world.’_

Kolivan begins his presentation, offering a visual of Zarkon's command ship, explaining the finer details of the plan. Keith has come up beside him after being let out of Shiro's grasp and is tightly clutching his arm, glaring at Lotor over Lance's shoulder. Lotor notices and makes a slight face at him that has Keith rising to action before Lance pulls Keith's arm tighter against him, preventing him from moving. Kolivan's presentation is wrapped up quickly and begins opening the discussion for the individual roles of everyone.

“My fleet can engage my father's head on, they are familiar with Galran strategy and will be able to do more damage than your random attacks could.” Lotor offers. Keith is mimicking Lotor behind his back and Shiro shakes his head at him in disapproval.

Lotor whips around and manages to catch Keith's mocking in the act and narrows his eyes in annoyance.

“Can he leave? Why is he even here?!” Lotor yells, looking towards Lance who’s looking at Keith in exasperation.

“Keith, leave Lotor alone.” Lance scolds, he shouldn't have made them all come down to the meeting-he knew how Keith got around Lotor.

“Yeah Keith, leave Lotor alone.” Lotor says mockingly.

“Lotor.” Lance sighs. He is so done with both of them. He loves Keith with his entire being but he almost forgot how he can really try Lance's patience sometimes. More often than not it's because of Lotor, but still.

“What?! I didn't even do anything!” Lotor yells, annoyed.

“I know you're trying to aggravate him, now stop or else I won't stop him when he comes after you.” Lance warns before turning back to face the holographic screen. He can tell that Keith is smirking at Lotor and works to put a stop that as well.

“Keith I told you to stop.”

“Wha-? You can't even see what I’m doing!” Keith yells from behind him.

“I don’t have to. Now stop or you're going to be waiting in the castle until we're done.”

The two of them manage to quell their bickering for the rest of the meeting but towards the end is when the civility starts coming apart. Lance should've known it was too good to be true.

Lotor _somehow_ managed to offend Keith with his goodbye and Keith immediately fired back with something about Lance. Which Lotor responded with something about _‘cradling’_. Lance could sense that things were about to turn sour and quickly moved to intercept the two.

“Keith go back to the castle.” Lance says, stopping him from taking another step forward. Keith turns shocked eyes toward him.

“Wha-? But I-”

“I know. But you two obviously can't handle being around each other and since we're guests here-go back to the castle, I’ll follow you in a bit.”

Keith's eyes are slightly hurt and Lance lets his annoyed expression fall at the look, instead offering an apologetic smile.

“Go on.” Lance urges. Keith reluctantly backs away and turns to march towards the castle without sparing another look at Lotor.

Lotor watches him leave, with a slight gleam in his eye.

“You’re not off the hook either Lotor. Do you honestly need to aggravate him? He has a short temper I’m sure you noticed that, do you honestly hate him that much?” Lance sighs. Lotor looks at him in slight surprise.

“I don't dislike him! And I wasn't attempting to upset him, he was just...very exciting to engage with.” Lotor mumbles slightly, looking away from Lance. Lance’s eyes widen at the admittance. That was a surprise, the idea that Lotor actually liked Keith? Whenever the two were together he would just test Keith's temper, making jabs and trying to get a rise out of him...’ _Of course he does!’_ Lance thought in realization. It all made sense-why Lotor had always made a point of bothering Keith whenever they met up again, why he was constantly attempting to talk to him, out-do him, impress him. Lotor was doing the same thing _Lance_ did when _he_ was the Garrison. How had he not seen it before? The parallels were so clearly there! Lotor didn't _hate_ Keith. He _admired_ him. Man how dense could he be? How did he not see that before? Lance shook his head and resisted the urge to smirk in amusement. Instead he clapped Lotor on the shoulder and pinched his bruised cheek, which he hissed at.

“Put some ice on that and for the love of god just try not to annoy him too much next time, alright?” Lance says lightly before turning and heading toward the castle. Lance hears the others begin to voice their own goodbye’s (Allura's significantly less hostile) and makes his way into the castle, immediately heading towards the observatory where he knew Keith would be sulking. The walk was quiet and short, Lance reached the room quickly, sliding open the door and spotting Keith grumpily sitting on one of the couches.

“Hey there lovebug.” Lance says lightly. Keith looks up at the sound of his voice and huffs slightly.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out there, making nice with _Lotor_.” Keith says, recoiling in disgust at his name. Lance shakes his head at the dramatics and plops down beside Keith.

“Don't be such a baby, you know you're my number one.” Lance says softly, leaning over to cuddle into Keith's side, who pretends to be unaffected.

“Don't you like Lotor, with his stupid hair?” Keith says slightly bitter.

“I like _your hair._ And the way you are now,” Lance coos, softly stroking Keith’s hair, who shivers slightly at the action. “Plus you’re like the perfect height for me now!” Lance continues, happily nuzzling Keith's cheek, grin widening when he sees Keith's cheeks redden, Keith freezes slightly and whips around to face Lance.

“Wait. Now?” Keith asks. Suddenly his eyes started glittering in interest. “Dad said I’d stop growing at fifteen are you telling me I’m going to get taller?” He asks, slightly excited.

Lance smiles and nods slightly. “Yeah, it's those Galra genes finally kicking in-and also male puberty lasts like two to five or something years so you may not finish until your twenties, which you did-er, _will_ .” Lance explains to Keith who looks excited at the prospect-and it’s _adorable_.

Lance can't resist and leans towards him, lowering his voice to a husky rasp he knows Keith loves, “And by the way that's not the only thing about you that gets bigger…” he trails off, brushing his lips against Keith's sensitive ear. Keith lets out a slight gasp of surprise, which he immediately coughs to cover up, he lifts a hand and pushes away Lance’s face from his neck.

“Stop it. Don't be gross.” Keith chokes out. Lance smirks.

“Why? You were quite the _beast._ ” Lance says, snickering when Keith turns a darker shade of red.

“Don't be weird! God you're so thirsty.” Keith says scowling slightly at Lance. Probably in a weak attempt to save face. Lance shrugs slightly.

“Just trying to make you feel better...just like you always did for me.” Lance whispers in Keith's ears who flushes hotly and looks like he's about to pass out. Lance is actually talking about how Keith used to be his shoulder to cry on whenever Lance had a rough day but if Keith wanted to make it dirty then that was not Lance's fault.

“Our wedding night is still, to this day, your most epic moment, in my personal opinion.” He adds in, just be a little shit. Keith releases a screech of embarrassment and buries his face in his hands. He held that position for a full minute before tensing and quickly sitting up to face Lance with wide eyes.

“Wait. _Wedding night_?” Keith asks. Now it's Lance's turn to blush, turning slightly away from Keith and brushing his cheeks in an attempt to lower their sudden redness.

“Lotor's not invited.” Keith says from his side. Lance startles slightly and turns to look at Keith who is watching him with an earnest expression. Lance feels joy explode in his chest and immediately smiles brightly, leaning against Keith.

“He _is_ invited.”

“Why?” Keith whines.

“Because if we don't we will _never_ hear the end of it.” Lance explains. Keith groans and gripes a bit before letting the complaints die off, instead settling his hands on Lance, where they both rest comfortably.

Lance breaths in slightly and lets out a deep breath. For once there's no urgency in him, no need to _move_ or _act_. There's just peace. Peace with Keith. And it's okay. This is okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have this head canon that since in the orginal Voltron Lotor was obsessed with Allura and she was Keith's love interest I think that they both have this like deep-set dislike for him for no reason other than that they still feel the aggravation from their original Voltron selves
> 
> this actually turned out longer than i was expecting-and i know what you're thinking i know promised this would be done before May buuuuuuuut....i actually don't have an excuse not even 'i was too busy studying' because i wasn't or else i wouldn't be cramming for ap psych right about now but i can promise you that the next chapter will definitely be the last one-maybe even the longest one since it's going to include the olkari and slav and the actual final fight itself, so in apology for my shit scheduling and broken promise here's a few lines that didn't make the final cut as well as a preview of the next chapter.  
> Omitted Lines:  
> “The two of us had a bonding moment! He cradled me in his arms!” Lotor yells back, extremely offended.  
> XxX  
> “I’m not speaking to him.” Lotor immediately protests, turning his nose up at Keith. “He’s annoying and his hair is ugly.”  
> XxX  
> “Yeah well you married me so who's the real the idiot?”  
> XxX  
> "Oh no, I would murder you." Allura says, completely serious.  
> "Okay." Lotor responds hesitantly.  
> "It would be an absolute slaughter."  
> "I said okay!" Lotor exclaims.  
> "You wouldn't even stand a chance."  
> "Lance make her stop!" Lotor yells.
> 
> Preview:  
> Lance lets out a harsh breath and begins to maneuver Blue around the wreckage that has been blown off Zarkon's command ship.  
> "Lance!" Keith exclaims from his helmet.  
> "Yeah?" Lance grits out as he tries to lose the fighters that spotted him, weaving through the broken parts of the ship.  
> "Marry me!"  
> Lance is so startled he almost crashes Blue into some of the floating debris, it was only his fast reflexes that prevented him from making contact. He repeats Keith's words over again in his head, making sure that he heard correctly.  
> "I don't think that now is the best time!" Lance exclaims as he urges Blue to move faster and away from the fleet that managed to isolate him from the rest of the team.


	15. im just saying i think langston hughes was onto something

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the final and longest chapter-seriously this think is like 10k

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whew this took a while to write-may have been done sooner if my allergies didn't take a turn for the worst. i hate spring. 
> 
> little note-i wanted to get this up as soon as it was done so i haven't spell check it yet, if you find any mistake point them out and ill fix them as soon as i can! ill probably revise it tomorrow tho but im always open for help (edit-i revised and fixed all the obvious mistakes)

“Alright so Slav is safe?” Lance asked Kolivan lowly. Kolivan nodded, standing right beside Lance as they both stood in the observatory deck above the training room. The others were leaned against the control panel and watching Shiro maneuver his way through the invisible maze while following Hunk’s instruction.

“And he's alright?” Lance probed. Kolivan shrugged slightly.

“Slav has always been neurotic I am not positive how one can qualify that.”

“Right, right I get that.” Lance nodded, before turning contemplative. “We’re going to need to bring up traveling to Olkarion after lunch today. Lotor said he keep Zarkon busy, and buy us some time while we build the teleduv but Olkarion is still Galra occupied so we need to destroy any form of communication they could have to send a distress signal to any nearby fleets. Zarkon's gotta be up to his elbows in paranoia by now, he’ll blame anything that goes wrong on us or Lotor.”

Kolivan nodded seriously beside him.

“The Blades can infiltrate the Galra base on Olkarion and destroy their communications from the inside, Voltron will be in charge of liberating the people.”

Lance murmured in agreement.

“We’ll also need to get Slav here as quickly as possible, he’s key to bringing this all together.” Lance said as Kolivan hummed in agreement and muttered about ordering Antok to go on the retrieval. Lance clapped Kolivan on the back and offered him a small, grateful smile before stepping forward and approaching Keith from behind. Lance smiled mischievously and tip toed behind him, carefully blowing on his neck and watching Keith flinch before whipping around to face him and meet Lance’s grinning face head on.

“Hello apple of my eye.” Lance said, smiling happily when Keith's face became more fond once catching sight of him.

“What's going on?” Lance asked as Keith motioned for him to stand alongside him by the panel.

“We’re watching Shiro get electrocuted because his shoulders are too broad for the maze.” Keith said matter of factly with a small smile on his face before pointing down at Shiro who was slowly creeping through the invisible maze with a tensed back and suspicious eyes. Lance let a delighted smile creep onto his face, of all the things-his _shoulders_. Lance let out a barely muffled snicker and leant over to whisper in Keith's ear.

“Ya know one time we lost Shiro for twelve hours, no one could find him until one of the mice came and told Allura he was stuck in the air ducts.” Lance said, struggling to speak clearly over his slowly bubbling laughter. Keith was biting his lip and also trying to lower his snickers.

“Shiro’s entire upper body got stuck in the ducts, his arms were pinned to his side so he couldn't move,” Lance choked out as tears of glee began collecting in Keith's eyes, a smile taking up the entire half of his face. “It took Allura, Hunk, and Coran almost ten minutes to pull him out, even after Pidge climbed inside to grease him. And the _entire_ time he was pretending that he was fine!”

Keith let out a sharp gasp of laughter but quickly clapped his hands over his mouth in an attempt to stifle it. But it was too late, Allura had heard and she turned to look at Keith and Lance who were hunched over each other, trying to cover their giggles at Shiro's expense-but their shaking shoulders gave them away.

The sound of Allura pointedly clearing her throat made Lance freeze in his tracks, he slowly looked up and caught sight of an unamused Allura watching him with a raised brow.

Lance was a war veteran and he knew when a shark smelt blood in the water. And also Allura was one of the most terrifying people he knew.

Allura opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Shiro who let out a yelp after running into the wall again.

“Allura! Isn’t there anything you can do about the maze? I keep running into it!” Shiro yelled up to the observatory deck.

Allura’s shoulders slumped and she sighed, turning to face Coran at the control panel.

“Coran, shut off the maze, we’ll have to do some reconfigurations in order to accommodate Shiro. We’ll take a break and then continue later.” She said, gazing down at Shiro who looked about .2 seconds away from activating his galra arm.

“Wait! A break? Does that mean lunch? Because we didn’t really get breakfast and we’ve been up most of the night.” Hunk interjected. “Which also means that Pidge hasn’t eaten yet either and look at them!” Hunk said, gesturing to Pidge who had pried open one of the panels and was gutting it steadily while observing its parts, not even turning to look at them.

“They’re so small! They can’t afford to miss a meal!” Hunk said adamantly. Pidge wasn’t paying attention to them and instead was ripping out coils and screws from the panel, smiling happily and putting them into the small slots of their suit.

“Pidge are you stealing parts from the ship again?” Coran asked. Pidge froze and turned to look at everyone who was watching them with confused expressions.

“Uhhh...no?”

“Try again.” Coran said.

Pidge glanced down at the parts in their hand  and slowly moved them behind their back.

“I’m upgrading my computer, I need them more than the training room does.” They defended, huffing slightly at being caught. Which was a bit baffling since they had been stealing in broad daylight, but then again this is the same person who shamelessly dug through a fountain for GAC.

Coran smiled in amusement just as Shiro slunk into the room.

“We’re taking a break for now, come on team let's get something to eat before starting again.” Shiro announced to them before turning and making his way back down the stairs.

“Black paladin if I may have a word with you.” Kolivan interjected, before Shiro could move farther. Shiro turned confused eyes to Kolivan before smiling slightly and nodding.

“Lance and I would like to address something with the team, we feel as though it would be better to discuss some aspects of our plan to take down Zarkon after you have received your daily sustenance.” Kolivan said diplomatically and Shiro nodding as he spoke.

“Alright sounds good, do you want to join us so that we can move this along quicker?” Shiro asked, offering Kolivan a bright smile. Kolivan’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, but didn’t give away any other indication of his shock, instead giving Shiro a quick nod and following him down the stairs.

Keith bumped his shoulder slightly as they walked down the stairs, after a sulking Pidge and consoling Hunk. Allura was walking with quick steps to stride alongside Shiro and Kolivan who had begun speaking quietly together, Lance was too far away to hear them.

“So what do you guys want to talk about with us?” Keith asks curiously. Lance smiles and shrugs his shoulders.

“It’s just some stuff about the teleduv, the Olkari are the only ones with the skill to actually pull this off and they’re still under Zarkon’s thumb, and then there’s the matter of gathering the supplies-we’ll need a huge Balmera crystal and a whole lotta scaltrite that we need to harvest.” Lance remarked as they turned the corner to the dining room.

“What’s scaltrite?” Keith asked uncertainly. Lance could understand the hesitation, space had the habit of fucking with your mind and perceptions so for all Keith knew "scaltrite" was some super obscure acid produced by space volcanos.

“It’s like this super strong, reflective material that has like a million uses, we’ll need to harvest it from a Weblum.”

Lance said lightly. Keith’s face creased in confusion.

“What’s a Weblum?” He asked, pulling out a chair for Lance when they arrived at the table. Lance softly thanked him and sat down, letting Keith push his chair in.

“It’s a planet eater.” Lance said more casually than he should have. Keith turns an incredulous gaze towards him.

“What?” He asks weakly in pure confusion and Lance almost feels bad. Lance pats him lightly on the shoulder and rests his hand on Keith’s cheek, curling his fingers around his neck and bringing down his face to plant a soft kiss on his lips.

“Don’t stress about it too much, we’ll explain. But you should probably eat something first.” Lance insists, offering Keith one of the bowls filled with food goo. Keith smiles and takes the bowl, dumping enough to cover his plate before turning and offering it to Lance.

Lance quietly thanks him and scoops out the goo onto his plate, resisting the urge to grimace. After years of becoming accustomed to the diverse cuisine that thousands of cultures offered, switching back to the plant-like gelatinous substance was a bit difficult.

Keith and the others obviously had no qualms and immediately dug in, Lance following at a much more sedate pace. Not much conversation was raised, everyone anticipating what Lance and Kolivan had to say.

Within a few minutes the table had been cleared and eyes were turned to face Lance and Kolivan.

“Alright so I know that we all worked out the details with Lotor back on the Vaka planets but we really only divided the work and gave the rough outline of roles.” Lance began before allowing Kolivan to begin speaking.

“Lance and I have discussed the intricacies involved with creating the teleduv and we are now aware of the amount of work required to do so. In order to finish the construction on time and relieve Prince Lotor of the battles he will surely fight while diverting Zarkon’s attention we will need to split up.” Kolivan finished, an air of finality in his words.

“Woah, wait _split up_?” Hunk asked unsurely. Lance nodded affirmatively.

“The parts of the teleduv make it so we have to collect a massive amount of scaltrite, the biggest Balmera crystal we can find, and the engineers to construct this whole thing.” Lance said calmly, attempting to soothe Hunk.

“There is also the complication that the only ones capable of building the teleduv are currently enslaved by Galra forces.” Kolivan informed them. The others look troubled at the news and Lance immediately tries to reassure them.

“It may not be that bad though, since Lotor’s keeping Zarkon preoccupied so security might not be bad.”

 _Might_ , was the key word in that sentence.

“How will we approach the present situation?” Allura asked calmly but Lance saw the underlying nervousness in her eyes, these next few missions would be crucial-it could literally make or break them.

“I will call in a few more Blades for assistance in freeing Olkarion, we will work to prevent any messages or distress signals from being sent to Zarkon’s fleets. Antok will retrieve Slav from the base he has been hidden and bring him to Olkarion to assist in construction. We will concern ourselves with scaltrite collecting and obtaining the Balmera crystal once we have freed the planet from Zarkon’s influence.” Kolivan said in a level manner. The others began murmuring their agreements and made to stand up and head to the bridge, likely to begin the course towards Olkarion, but Lance spoke before they could leave the room.

“Wait! There is one more thing that I may have forgotten to mention.” Lance interjected, the others turned their questioning gazes towards him.

“Olkarion has a ruler called King Lubos and he’s really beloved by them, enough for them to submit to slavery without resistance out of fear for his safety.” Lance began, seeing everyone’s faces become concerned.

“If they’re holding him hostage then that makes things a bit more complicated.” Shiro said, frowning.

“And normally I would agree with you, but the thing is they’re _not really_ holding him hostage.” Lance said. The others immediately looked confused at his words.

“He’s only pretending to be their prisoner in exchange for safety and food-he’s the one letting the commanders enslave the people, he’s the reason they’re forced to work day and night, he’s the reason for his people’s suffering.” Lance said tensely. The faces of all the paladins immediately hardened at his words. If there was one thing that all of them hated, it was selfish rulers. Lance had met far too many and each one still made his skin crawl in disgust. Lubos was their first encounter with that grade of people and it was not a pleasant experience, but it was eye opening.

“So what will we do about him if everyone doesn’t know what type of person he really is?” Pidge asked, turning to Shiro, Allura, Kolivan, and Lance.

“One of the Olkari named Ryner leads the survivors that managed to escape into the forest, she’ll ask us to try to rescue Lubos, we’ll tell her that there’s already people on the inside to take care of it-that’s where you come in Kolivan.” Lance explains, turning to face the attentive Kolivan who was listening carefully.

“After taking down the communications the Blades will make sure that Lubos doesn't get the chance to leave. The Olkari need to see for themselves who he is because they may not believe us if we tell them that their King is a _backstabbing, traitorous liar_ who spends his days eating and watching shitty movies while the majority of his people starve and struggle to survive each day.” Lance says, his voice becoming more biting with each word. The others are silent for a moment longer than Lance is used to and he looks up to see them watching him with wide-eyes.

“Uh...are you okay Lance?” Hunk asks carefully. Lance slowly breaths in and lets his shoulders slump down from their tensed form.

“I’m fine...I just...hate people like that.” Lance mutters. He couldn’t tell them that it was really about the people that suffered more than they had to because of uncaring rulers that sided with Zarkon. They would cross that bridge when they came to it.

“Anyway we should probably get there soon, waiting around isn’t doing any favors for Lotor.” Lance said softly, attempting a smile. The others nod hesitantly and begin walking towards the main deck. Lance follows slowly, walking behind everyone. Keith is lingering at the back of the group and is clearly indecisive about waiting for Lance to catch up or slowing down to walk with him. Lance smiles slightly at the sight and speeds up in order to reach Keith’s side. Keith turns to look at him and smiles when he sees Lance’s own happy expression.

Silently, the two link their hands together and let them swing between their bodies as they walk steadily towards the main deck. Keith’s palm is warm and Lance lightly squeezes his hand, smiling brightly when Keith squeezes back. The two are the last to arrive and let their eyes linger on each other as they separate to their respective seats. Even as the ship makes the wormhole jump their eyes never leave each other for long.

XxX

“So we're going towards the forest?” Pidge asked in a not quite whiny voice. Lance smirked and nodded.

“That's where Ryner and the other survivors are, yes.” Lance responds as the other Lions fly lowly to avoid detection. Kolivan informed them that the Blades would arrive in a few doboshes to break into the capital. Lance really admired their efficiency, they worked quickly and effectively in a way that the paladins never really got the hang of.

“Don't worry Pidgeotto I’m sure you'll find the forest just as interesting as the city.” Lance says in amusement at Pidge's pouting face.

“I don't think so Lance. There's never been any lost love between me and the outdoors. I get sunburned easily, I’m practically allergic to trees, no animal other than my dog Rover has ever liked me.” Pidge sighed, looking longingly out the window of their Lion towards the city. Lance laughs slightly at the dramatics.

“I like it.” Keith interjects, looking around the trees surrounding his Lion as they descended to the forest.

“It's quiet.” He says, smiling gently before frowning in discomfort.

“Uh guys I think my Lion is getting dragged down.” Keith states unsurely. Lance feels a pull on Blue and releases her controls, allowing her to be maneuvered through the trees.

“It's okay, it's the Olkari, they detected us and probably thought we were a Galra patrol, we may have to announce our presence though.” Lance says once they enter a clearing and catch sight of several Olkari surrounding them.

“We come in peace!” Shiro announces loudly as the Lions touchdown on the forest floor.

Lance sees Ryner from Blue’s monitor and watches her slowly approach, removing her hood and looking up at them in relieved awe.

“Let's get down there.” Shiro says and stands up from his chair, Lance watches him leave his cockpit through the monitor before standing up himself and watching the others do the same.

Lance jumps down from Blue’s open mouth and quickly regroups with the other paladins. Shiro has already begun speaking to Ryner who motions for them to follow her.

“We have been waiting and hoping several decafeebs for a savior to free our people, perhaps our hope was not in vain.” Ryner says calmly as she leads them to their home in the trees.

“When the Galra attacked only a few of us were able to escape the cities, and we came here. We never gave up hope of reclaiming our lands and reuniting with our families, the Olkari are a resilient people and we adapted to our environment.” Ryner said, smiling wistfully as she brought the paladins to their wooded city. Lance heard the other paladins exclaim in surprise and look around in amazement. Lance let his gaze scan over the surrounding environment and feels nostalgia begin to bubble in his chest.

Olkarion had been made The Green Lion's unofficial home by Pidge, and all the paladins had become accustomed to visiting regularly to see how Pidge's favorite planet was faring. Seeing it again revived the feelings of happiness he had tried ignoring out of the sadness he felt over his lost family.

Lance followed the other paladins as Ryner led them down to the center of the city.

“Coran was right Ryner you guys really are the most amazing engineers in the universe!” Pidge exclaimed, watching with wide eyes as a wooden toy flew around their head.

“Matt would lose his shit if he ever saw this!” Pidge said excitedly, fluttering around and observing everything within their view.

“Why don't you take pictures and send them to him? You could probably bring him and your father here after we’re done with Zarkon.”  Lance suggests, laying their hands down on Pidge's shoulder to keep them from bouncing around more. Pidge freezes and then breaks into a smile, immediately reaching for their gauntlet and typing in a few commands.

“Oh man Matt is going to be soooooo jealous!” They cackle as they begin flying around to take a picture of everything, even going as far as to wrap an arm around Shiro’s waist and take a selfie in front of one of the Olkari's wood mecha suits. Lance smiles fondly and turns to face Ryner who watches with an amused albeit confused expression.

“Ryner I was hoping I could talk with you about retaking your city.” Lance begins, waiting for Ryner to turn their calm gaze to him.

“We’re not the only ones who are working to free your planet, a group of rebel galra known as the Blades of Marmora are currently infiltrating the Galra headquarters to cut off their communication, they’ll make sure nothing happens to your King.” Lance says. Ryner’s eyes widen slightly at his words.

“Galra are helping us?” She asks, baffled. Lance nods affirmatively.

“You can trust them, they want Zarkon gone just as much as you and everyone else does.” Lance replies. Disbelief never crosses Ryner’s face and Lance smiles slightly at her faith in them.

“But King Lubos will be unharmed?” She asks carefully. Lance feels his eyes narrow at the mention of the King and works to hide his reaction.

“The Blades are great warriors they won't let anything happen to him.” Lance says with forced calm, he hopes Ryner doesn't notice. She must see nothing wrong because she nods and doesn’t mention anything else, instead leading the paladins to the armory, with is really more like a field with absurdly large flowers and seeds so big they could be soccer balls for the Lions.

Lance distantly hears Ryner explaining to them about how to create the weapons with the help of the focusing circlets she’s handing out, but Lance isn’t paying attention, instead he’s listening to Blue’s distant humming. This place was about as sacred for a paladin as one could get, the only thing was that it was Pidge’s domain-he could feel Green preening already.

Green had always been one of the more picky Lions-right behind Red. Hunk was the only other paladin to have ever flown Green and that was when the situation was desperate. Feeling a surge of Green’s quintessence Lance turns around and spots Pidge excitedly 'awwing' around the mecha suit they created. Lance smiles fondly and fiddles with the circlet in his hands. He understood quintessence, and to a certain extent was able to manipulate it but water is where his skills lay-the only other paladin that could come close to the forest were Keith and Hunk and even then their personal preferences got in the way. Keith was all instinct, he didn’t like taking things slow, it was all impulse and split second decisions for him. Hunk could match Pidge in the complexities of design easily, but stopped when it came to the individual cells within the woods, where form didn’t quite meet function. Lance’s smile became a bit strained and he turned to look at his team who were ‘oohing’ over Pidge’s creation. Lance shakes his head and quickly jogs over to meet them, bumping shoulders with Hunk and rubbing Pidge’s head, who squawked in indignation. Lance chuckled lowly and turned to look in the distance, the capital tower could be seen distantly, it's been a couple doboshes, Kolivan should be sending them an update and the paladins would leave, along with Ryner and the other Olkari to take back their planet from Zarkon’s forces.

“Guys Kolivan just sent me an update, it’s time.” Shiro says suddenly. Pidge unmounts the wood mecha and follows the others as they begin jogging back to their Lions, the paralyzing effect of the arrows should’ve worn off while Ryner showed them around.

“Alright our priority is to take on the fleet and any fighters that they launch as well as to provide backup for the Olkari on the ground! Try to minimize damage to the city as much as possible!” Shiro orders as the Lions take to the air, flying in the direction of Kolivan's signal.

Lance grips Blue’s controls and flies further ahead, glancing down and spotting the humongous Olkari cube. Lance clenches his jaw.

Not only did Lubos give up on his people, but he armed the enemy. With the trouble that Lotor had been giving Zarkon lately and the amount of deserters in the military it's possible that Zarkon had called his generals back to him and away from their designated sectors. But just because there was a chance of no general on planet didn't make the task any less dangerous.

“Guys! Watch out for the cube down there.” Lance warns as they finally enter the city. The others make inquisitive noises.

“It can pack a hell of a punch and is wicked hard to beat. So be careful!” Lance says. The others nod affirmatively. Lance releases an anxious breath and keeps an eye on the cube, waiting for it to activate while helping the others attack sentry bases.

“Guys I think we have a problem!” Hunk yells out, Lance immediately turns Blue around and catches sight of the Olkari cube racing towards them.

“We need to form Voltron now!” Shiro orders, Lance feels the familiar tug in his gut and hums as Blue clicks into place like a missing puzzle piece.

“Try not to fire too much at the cube!” Lance yells quickly when Keith releases a blast towards the steadily approaching machine. There's a moment of silence and Lance can feel the confusion of the others in the bond before any of them say anything.

“We need to move, NOW!” Lance yells and feels the others quickly react to his words, Shiro directing them to move further up, just barely dodging the blast.

“If we can't fire at it than what are we supposed to do?” Keith asks, frustration creeping into his voice. Lance bites his lip and maneuvers Blue in several quick motions, following Shiro’s urging mindlessly as he attempts to think of a solution. He's been in thousands of battles, some of them he doesn't even remember but he clearly recalls the cube and the fear he felt when Blue went down during the fight. But how did they beat it? Lance grunts as he feels Blue get nicked.

 _'Alright think Lance, just think. The cube is an Olkarion design. What are the Olkari? Wizard-like engineers. How do they build? By literally talking to the particles within the structure they are working with.'_ Alright that’s something, talking to the particles, talking to the particles-the only ones among them that can literally communicate with the fundamental basics of the universe are Pidge and Allura. But neither of them are anywhere near the level to take on a task like this yet!...But maybe the Green Lion might.

“Pidge I need you to connect with your Lion!” Lance exclaims. As Voltron is pushed further away from the city by the cube, Lance can see that the Olkari are struggling on the ground against the Galra forces present-they need to get down there and quick.

“What?” Pidge asks incredulously, releasing a heaving grunt as their shield takes the brunt of an attack.

“Shiro we need to split up so that Pidge can get one on one with their Lion!” Lance yells and hears Shiro order immediately them to disband. The release from Voltron leaves a slightly hollow feeling which is quickly wiped away by Blue’s presence filling the space.

“Wait!” Pidge yells desperately. “What do I do? I don’t know what to do!”

Lance releases a huff and summons Blue’s sonic cannons.

“It's like when you first found Green! That fullness, that feeling of everything being right! Look for that and use Green’s quintessence to take that thing down!” Lance yells back and lets out a loud grunt of effort as he fires Blue’s cannons towards the cube, sending it back several hundred kilometers.

“We’ll buy you some time Pidge!” Lance assures them as he and the other paladins begin to engage the cube, ramming into it to avoid offering it anymore power.

Lance feels the exhaustion begin to creep into the others the longer the fight is being drawn out. _‘Come on Pidgey you always pull through for us.’_ Lance thinks to himself as Blue just barely misses a shot to their back. Keith’s yell of surprise immediately catches Lance's attention and he whips Blue around in time to see Keith crash into the ground.

“Keith!” Lance shrieks. Hunk’s own yelp quickly draws his attention, he joins Keith on the ground, both Lions remain unmoving.

“Hunk!” Lance exclaims.

“Lance watch out!” Shiro screams and shoves his Lion out of the way of a blast that surely would’ve sent him down with the others.

“Pidge now would be a great time to pull out that trump card!” Lance yells as he and Shiro try to deftly dodge the cube. Lance sees a shot heading for Shiro and tries to yell out for him to duck but is too late, the Black Lion already falling down to join Keith and Hunk.

“Pidge we need you to ack-!” Lance gasps in surprise feeling Blue’s limbs lock in place and begin free falling.

“No!” Lance grunts and attempts to reactivate Blue, he can feel her just in the edge of his consciousness but there's a gap between them, he just needs to _close_ it and he's _almost got it_ -

“I’m here!” Pidge yells suddenly, startling Lance and forcing him to drop his concentration. Pidge has activated their cannon and is flying rapidly around the cube, firing at it's different sides.

“Bring it on you lame ass cube!” Pidge yells over the sounds of the paladin’s yells of relief. Lance is especially relieved and slumps down in his seat. His hands are trembling slightly and he takes a steadying breath. Blue prods at him questioningly and Lance waves away their concern, instead watching Pidge carefully in case they need any back up, but they seem to have a handle on things. Their blasts are creating eruptions of roots from within the cube and Lance is happy to see it go down.

Moving Blue’s controls around Lance notes that she's a bit disoriented but still fine and slowly urges her towards Pidge. The others have begun to shake off the cube’s effects and closely follow behind.

“Nice job Pidge.” Lance praises, smiling when Pidge shoots him a sheepish smile.

“Aw it's no big deal, Green did most of the work.” Pidge insists as they turn to fly towards the city, the others finally catching up.

From what Lance can see, several legions of fighters have been indirectly destroyed in their battle and the Olkari on the ground appear to be overwhelming the galra forces.

“We should get down there and see if they need any help.” Keith suggests. The others nod in agreement and begin flying towards the capital center, Kolivan hasn't updated them about the presence of a general on the planet so Lance's hunch was right, now all that was left was dealing with the Olkarion King.

XxX

King Lubos is thrown down to the feet of Ryner and the other gathered Olkari by a masked Marmora member.

“We found him feasting and being entertained by a group of jesters, which were made of enslaved Olkarion citizens.” The Marmora Blade reports bitingly. Lance could understand the anger. No one liked shitty Kings.

Ryner’s eyes widen in shock and look down to Lubos in horrified amazement.

“Lubos?....How could you?” She asks, shaking her head at him. Lubos at least has the decency to look somewhat ashamed.

“I was doing it for the people.” He murmurs in some weak sort of defense. Lance bristles but makes no move forward. This is not his planet, he has no right to interfere- the Olkari must decide amongst themselves the course of their future. It was a lesson Allura had drilled into all of them, above all things a paladin _must_ be impartial.

Ryner does not take his words well and frowns down at him, her sentiment is shared by the surrounding Olkari who have begun to murmur among themselves and shoot Lubos betrayed and hurt expressions.

“You are not best for Olkarion.” Ryner says lowly. Lubos looks up at her in shock.

“I, Ryner, Commander of the 7th division Designer’s Guild do so challenge your authority and right to the throne!” Ryner exclaims loudly. Her proclamation is met with a moment of stunned silence before yells of support and agreement are being shouted by the surrounding Olkari. King Lubos is looking around frantically but is not met with any sympathy or support.

“It is one thing to surrender for the sake of our people, but to benefit from it is nothing less than pure greed.” Ryner says coldly, her frown still present and directed towards Lubos.

“Sheesh.” Hunk says from beside him. Lance can see where he's coming from-to lose all support entirely and have everyone turn against you must hurt. But somehow Lance can't bring himself to feel bad for someone like Lubos.

“He brought it on himself.” Lance murmurs and turns away from the public coupe, instead making his way to the group of Blades that had been silently hanging back.

“Hey.” Lance greets softly. The Blades turn their heads to him, they all tower over him by at least a foot and Lance almost feels like a child.

“I just wanted to thank you for your help, everything would have been much harder without you.” Lance says, smiling up at them and offering his out his hand. The Blade he’s holding it out to tilts their head in confusion before carefully reaching out and wrapping their hand around Lance's much smaller palm. Lance beams up at them and slowly pumps twice before gently extracting his hand and offering it to the other Galra. As he moved through the group they all seemed to be getting the hang of it and shake his hand immediately after he offers it. Lance grins up at them and hears the footsteps of the other paladins coming up behind him.

“Lance.” Keith greets and stands by his side, looking up at the Blades with a slightly blank expression.

“Uh...hey.” Keith greets them, waving his hand at them slightly. The Blades all awkwardly wave back.

“Uhhh, I wanted to say thanks for the help….we uh...couldn't have done it without you?” Keith offers. Lance laughs lightly and shakes his head, bumping Keith's shoulder.

Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge come up and say their own greetings and thanks. Lance notices Ryner's approach and steadily moves out of the way. Ryner stops in front of the Blades and gazes up at them, studying their masks for a moment before bending over in what could only be a bow.

“Thank you for helping us to free our people.” She says. Her motion is immediately repeated by the hundreds of Olkari surrounding them, all of them voicing their own gratitude.

The Blades appear to be stunned by the motion and are looking around in confusion. Lance smiles sadly at the sight-they're so used to working from the shadows, it’s not common for people to thank them.

Lance turns to Shiro and points to the sky in a specific signal. Shiro nods and turns on his comms to summon Allura to planetside and Lance turns back to the Blades.

“Kolivan's in the castleship, it should be coming down soon in case you wanted to meet up with him.” Lance informs the Blades who nod slowly at his words. Lance offers them a final grin before turning back around to face the castleship that he can see slowly descending into the lower atmosphere.

“At least we managed to save Olkarion. That's one thing to check off the list.” Keith says beside him. Lance nods absently.

“Lance?” Keith asks. Lance turns his head slightly to catch sight of Keith's concerned expression.

“Are you alright?” He asks. Lance bites his lip sharply.

“There was no general on the planet.” Lance murmurs. Keith's face is creased in confusion. “If the general isn't here, to defend a valuable colony...than where is he?” Lance asks, looking away and to the distance. Keith makes slight noise beside him.

“Do you think that Zarkon?...” Keith trails off. Lance nods sharply.

“Ol’ purple eyes is gathering his forces together, making them abandon their posts.” Lance says turning contemplative.

“Zarkon's forces are huge, it's not too much of a stretch to say he's calling them all back to the main base to fortify it but even then that seems too much like overkill. There's gotta be something up with Zarkon if he’d make a move as illogical as that. He’s distracted. Unhinged by something.” Lance mutters to himself beginning to pace back and forth. Lance doesn't notice Keith's concerned expression or the attention he's garnering from everyone around them.

“What is it? What is keeping his attention? What could possibly be so impor-?” Lance freezes in his tracks and whips around to face Shiro who is watching him carefully.

“Shiro!” Lance says urgently quickly marching up to him. Shiro looks confused and looks down at him questioningly.

“You said Zarkon can't track us through Black right?” Lance asks. Shiro nods hesitantly.

“Does that mean that your bond with her is strong?”

“Yes? Lance what is this abou-?”

“Did you see Zarkon on the astral plane?” Lance quickly fires, not allowinng him to finish. Shiro's eyes widen in shock.

“How did you know abou-?”

“ _Did. You. See. Zarkon?_ ” Lance asks urgently. Shiro nods slowly, his forehead creasing in concern. Lance sucks in a sharp breath and begins tapping his knuckles against his lips. Zarkon's bond with the Black Lion is being dissolved, replaced by Shiro's bond. _That's_ why he's made silly moves like calling all the generals back. And with Lotor waging a war against him he can't focus on getting the Black Lion back and it's eating away at him. He's losing control over himself. He's losing his sense of self. This is either really good, or _really really bad._

“-ance!”

But if Zarkon's not the main danger anymore than that means that-

“LANCE!”

Lance flinches, startled at the arms that suddenly grip his shoulders. He looks up at Shiro who’s leaning in close and gazing at him probingly.

“Yeah?” Lance asked hesitantly.

“I’ve been calling your name for the last minute, what's going on?” Shiro asks, concern for him flooding into the question. Lance feels remorse for worrying Shiro and carefully extracts himself from Shiro's iron grip.

“I just realized something important.” Lance says looking up at Shiro seriously. “Zarkon is slipping. There's no general on Olkarion even though it's incredibly valuable, we haven't fought with a fleet of Galra in a couple weeks because Lotor's keeping them preoccupied, and your bond with Black has been getting stronger.” Lance lists.

Shiro nods as he follows along with Lance's explanation.

“Zarkon's off his game, he wants Black but can't just ignore the threat that Lotor has become.” Lance reports. Shiro nods, frowning slightly.

“This is good though isn't it? If Zarkon can't fight us at full strength we have a higher chance of winning.” Shiro speculates.

“And normally that’d be a good thing, but there's someone else beside Zarkon who has now become a big problem.” Lance says, looking up to face a concerned Shiro. “Unlike Zarkon they don't care about the Lions and they are ,arguably, more dangerous than he is.”

Shiro's face creases in worry. Lance shares the sentiment because this person was the only one to have ever escaped Voltron, who had become a recurring problem for Lotor during his reign as Emperor.

“Who is it?” Shiro asks. Lance takes a deep breath and sighs.

“Haggar.”

XxX

There was one thing that Haggar had going for her that always kept the paladins on their toes around them. And that was their ability to manipulate massive amounts of quintessence. Allura was the only one who could ever really stand a chance against her, what with her quintessence sensitive nature but even that wasn't enough to ever take Haggar down.

No matter what they did or how well they cornered her she always managed to slip away. Lance had been almost convinced that they would never be able to catch her. Until one day she simply…stopped attacking.

It was unnerving, her abrupt disappearance. Logically Lance knew that she had likely kicked the bucket but it was still so surreal to realize that the person who had caused so much pain and suffering was still mortal and ergo capable of dying. And wasn't that a slap in the face? That she evaded capture from the most powerful weapon in the universe and the thing that finally got her was...old age.

Upon return to the castle Allura established an alliance with the Olkari and they began clearing an area for the construction of the teleduv. Slav would be arriving by the next day, escorted by Antok and he would provide the blueprints. All that was left was for the team to collect the Balmera crystal and the scaltrite. Both of which would be recovered  within the next few days. Hunk and Keith having already been tasked with recovering the scaltrite, neither of them had reported anything amiss the first time so Lance tried not to feel too concerned. Allura would be traveling with Shiro to the Balmera in order to recover the crystal (a fact which led to Hunk being huffy for a few hours).

Lance knew that the monster had already been destroyed so tried not to feel too worried about their mission to the Balmera. Since everyone had gotten an assigned role, that left Coran in charge of the castle and both Lance and Pidge as the standing guards for Olkarion. Lance was actually relieved that he would be allowed to stay back on the castle, it would allow him to do more research on quintessence and discover a way to stop or at least trap Haggar. Lance’s Altean was limited to the conversational vernacular of Allura and Coran’s home city. Which was useful for maneuvering around the castle but not so much for the in the in depth and complex Altean that was contained within the texts of the castle library. Those would have to be translated either by Coran or Pidge, if they could develop a translating software within a few hours.

Lance sighed deeply and scanned the shelves searching for any sort of reference material about quintessence but it was easier said than done. Even the Alteans didn’t have a clear cut grasp of what it was exactly. Quintessence was like the Force, abstract in nature and not completely comprehendible. Only difference was that Quintessence had a physical form and was incredibly volatile if not controlled properly and Haggar was one of the few people capable of perfect control.

This was going to be harder than he thought.

XxX

“How unusual.”

Those were the first words Slav had spoken before skidding over to him and jabbing a finger into his stomach. Lance winced and rested a hand over the site, watching Slav as he jumped onto his arm and began crawling over his body. Antok and Kolivan were watching with raised brows.

“How fascinating. Your host body is very young yet you hold refined and matured quintessence.” Slav stated, prying open Lance’s mouth and peeking inside critically. Lance let him do as he pleased, already accustomed to the behavior. Lance had somehow become Slav’s favorite paladin the first time around, maybe it was because he didn't show his annoyance as easily as the others did (he got enough practice with annoying younger siblings)or it may have had something to do with ‘blue terahertz’ that Slav had raved about several times.

“It's very unusual to see matured quintessence!” Slav remarked. “It typically only happens towards the end of one’s life.” Slav informed Lance, gripping his cheeks and forcing him to look into Slav’s narrowed eyes.

“I don't typically come across unusual things…” He trailed off before shoving one of his hands into Lance's mouth and feeling each of his teeth as if searching for something. Lance choked as Slav triggered his gag reflex and immediately began to shove him away.

“Slav! What the heck!” Lance exclaimed, coughing slightly. Slav looked triumphant.

“A time traveler! I only meet one in .000000001% of all realities!” Slav said proudly. Lance stares at him in disbelief.

“How were you able to tell that from sticking _your hand_ into _my mouth_?” Lance asks incredulously. Slav scoffs slightly.

“Time travelers have significantly wetter mouths!” Slav says as if it were obvious. Which, no. It wasn't.

Lance hears Pidge snicker from behind him.

“Oh man, I bet Keith's going to enjoy that little feature.”

Lance feels his face heat up and lets out a scandalized gasp, he whips around to face a grinning Pidge.

“G-grounded” Lance manages to stutter. “Grounded! You are _grounded!_ _Go to your room!_ ” Lance shrieks in an attempt to save face whilst pointing out the door for Pidge who cackles and leaves with an air of satisfaction.

Slav has begun to tug at his cheeks and Lance holds him at arm's length like he's a squirming toddler. He turns to face Kolivan and Antok who were watching silently the whole time.

“You guys wouldn't happen to know anything that could help us take down Zarkon's head druid would you?” Lance asks somewhat desperately. Kolivan and Antok glance towards one another and Lance finally lets go of Slav who slithers up his arm and wraps himself around Lance’s neck like a scarf. He feels Slav individually pick at his hair and _-is he counting Lance’s hair strands?_

“From what Thace has told us of the witch her powers will be limited in confined spaces. If you can trap her in a room you should be able to do away with her.” Kolivan says. Lance nods. Killing Zarkon was a complex situation since his death would martyr him and turn him into a figure for radical Galra. But Haggar was mostly unknown by the empire, her death would have little impact. Besides, it was too risky to keep her alive. But being in a confined space with Haggar was incredibly dangerous, they needed to be able to at least restrict her powers.

“Slav?” Lance asks, wincing slightly at a particularly harsh tug on his hair, his scalp was sensitive.

“Yes?” Slave responds resting his face on Lance's shoulder in order to face him.

“Is there any way to create like a...like a quintessence stunner? Something that can temporarily stop someone from using their quintessence?” Lance asks carefully. Slav huffs slightly.

“Of course there is! Quintessence is like energy it can be forced into different forms, but it cannot be completely destroyed. However freezing quintessence, while possible would require a great deal of concentration as well as a pure luck.” Slav informs him before returning to counting Lance’s hair.

Lance smiles.

“Huh. Two things that I've got in spades.” Lance murmurs and winces at another harsh tug.

XxX

Keith and Hunk return the next day covered in weblum fluids and holding several bags of scaltrite.

They both spend a full hour in the showers before reporting to the common room. Allura and Shiro are returning later that evening with the final piece to the teleduv which will let them begin the plan.

“Is there any news on Zarkon or Lotor?” Lance asks Coran as they all settle down on the couches. Coran has been supervising the teleduv’s construction and is the first one to receive any incoming messages to the castle.

“Zarkon is sufficiently occupied and his base remains unmoved but it appears as though a large collection of fleets and their generals have retreated back to Zarkon's side.” Coran informs them. Lance nods slowly, so it was just as he had thought.

“Oh! And one more thing!” Coran exclaims, turning back around to face Lance.

“Lotor says that he sends you his love.”

Lance releases a put upon sigh.

“Tell _Lotor_ that I send him _my foot in his ass!_ ” Keith exclaims, rising up slightly. Lance loops a hand around his shoulders and holds him down.

“Shuuuush.” Lance soothes, stroking Keith’s hair which is terribly tangled-Lance should get a brush and comb it out for him.

Keith sits tensely in his arms as they all rest quietly, the only sound being that of Pidge typing and modifying Kolivan's virus which they called _‘schoolyard worthy’_.

“Hey Lance?” Keith asks quietly. Lance hums in response and lets his head rest on top of Keith's.

“Would you say that you like me a lot?” Keith asks carefully. Lance lifts his head and turns Keith's head to face him, leaning in close enough to feel Keith's breath brush against his lips.

“I would say that I would travel to the ends of the universe for you, but sure let's say that I like you a lot.” Lance grins and plants a loving kiss against the side of Keith's mouth. Keith’s lips curl up happily and he reaches out with both hands to cup Lance’s face and plant several strong kisses all across his nose and forehead.

“Good. Because I like you a lot too...and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to-”

“We have returned!” Allura exclaims, bursting into the common room with Shiro by her side. Whatever Keith wanted to say gets cut off by the two of them filing in.

Allura is carrying something behind her hands and is happily striding over to Hunk.

“Hello Hunk.” She greets him excitedly. Hunk looks up at her in confusion before offering his own smile.

“Hey Allura! How was visiting the Balmera?” Hunk asks curiously. If anything Allura’s grin widens at his words.

“It went wonderfully! I met Shay and she entrusted me a gift to deliver to you!” Allura said practically bouncing in place. At the mention of Shay Hunk sits up straighter and looks up at Allura eagerly.

“What is it? What did she give you?” Hunk asks rapidly. Allura smiles before pushing her hands forward and offering Hunk a pair of earrings, nearly identical to the ones that Shay wore. Hunk blushed excitedly, his eyes glimmering in happiness before slowly reaching forward and delicately extracting them from Allura’s hands. Hunk slowly trailed his fingers over them, smiling with an expression that could only be _‘love sick’._

“Balmeran’s place a great deal of importance on their accessories, typically one will receive a pair from their parents as a symbol of familial bonds and gift another as a show of interest.” Allura says, smiling down at Hunk.

“An interest of what?” Hunk asks absently, still lovingly tracing the earrings.

“Interest in courtship.” Allura says simply. Hunk freezes and looks up at Allura with wide eyes. Lance feels a grin bloom onto his face. Pidge gives a low whistle from the side.

“Dang. Shay works fast.” Pidge says, smiling at Hunk who has turned a bright red. Hunk glances back down at the earrings in his hand before standing abruptly.

“Allura do we have a metal shop somewhere on the ship? I need to make Shay a pair too to show her that I’m interested!” Hunk says frantically. Allura grins broadly.

“Third level, east wing, second corridor, it's the first door on your left.”  Allura reports and steps out of the way for Hunk to bolt out of the room.

Lance chuckles as he leaves.

“Ah those two, they spent years dancing around each other before finally tying the knot.” Lance laughs lightly, shaking his head. “Not that I have much of a right to complain.”

“What do you mean?” Keith asks curiously. Lance turns back to him, his confused purple eyes watching him carefully.

“I was kind of a coward.” Lance shrugs, wrapping his arms around Keith. “It took me years to admit that I actually had a crush on you and even longer to actually tell you.” Lance whispers slightly.

“Why didn't you?” Keith asks, tilting his head back to look at Lance. Lance smiles.

“I was afraid that you wouldn't like me.” Lance admits, and it's true. Lance had honestly been shocked when Keith admitted that he had feelings for Lance as well.  Because, to Lance, Keith was perfection. At the Garrison Keith Kogane was literally #goals. And he actually liked _Lance_ , the goofball sharpshooter that made it that far on nothing but luck.

Keith's hand on his cheeks pulls him out of his thoughts and he looks up at him, his purple tinted eyes drinking in his every feature.

“Who wouldn't like you?” Keith whispers before leaning down and planting a kiss on Lance's cheek. Lance giggles and feels Keith smile against him before pulling back.

“Ughh that was so cheesy I want my money back.” Pidge complains from the other couch. Keith frowns and reaches behind him to pull one of cushions up and toss it in Pidge's direction.

A light thump and screech tell them that it made contact and the two break into peals of laughter. Lance searches for Keith's hands and intertwines their fingers. Keith's wearing his crusty gloves that always make Lance’s hands smell weird afterwards but he doesn't care. He wants to hold his boyfriend’s hands and some old gloves aren't about to stop him.

Lance pulls Keith towards him so he ends up laying on top of Lance when he leans back on the couch. Keith is still huffing slightly in laughter and nestles his head in the crook of Lance's neck. Lance smiles contentedly and breaths in the smell of Keith's alien shampoo, which somehow manages to mimic the scent of wet wipes. Lance sighs deeply and wraps his arms around Keith, bringing his own face closer to Keith neck.

“I love you.” Lance murmurs. Keith freezes above him before tightening his grip on Lance, lifting his head to whisper in Lance's ear.

“Not as much as I love you.”

Lance can practically see the smug look on his face and laughs lightly. Ah Keith Kogane, he just can't let Lance win. He's always gotta one up him, even in love.

How typical.

XxX

“Shiro is the only one who can lure Zarkon out.” Lance says carefully. “But Zarkon is unhinged, there's no telling what he can do to you if he gets close enough.”

Lance is not going to risk Shiro’s life on this, he's _not_.

“I appreciate your concern Lance, but it's okay Black protected me from him before. She won't let anything happen.” Shiro insists, smiling gently at him. Lance bites his lip, Shiro may be right. Their bond is strong, stronger than it was before. But is it strong _enough_?

“Lotor will also be there to divert away some of Zarkon's attention and he’ll have to decide whether he wants to end Lotor's coupe or retrieve the Black Lion.” Shiro adds.

The answer is the Black Lion. Zarkon will always choose the Black Lion. But it may be better not to question it and instead Lance decides to agree with Shiro.

“Thace has sent us a message- they are unsuspicious of him. Delivery of the virus should go smoothly.” Kolivan reports.

“That's good.” Allura says, focusing on moving the castle forward steadily, keeping pace with the teleduv. Lance nods as well, that _is_ good. Once Thace delivers the virus he’ll have a short window of time to get out of the command ship, being the only Marmora member left on board- getting him out should be easy.

“Once the defenses are down we can blow up the command base to smithereens...but there's also the case of Haggar.” Lance says. He looks up to the other members of the table

“We can't let her live,” Lance says with finality, “she's not like Zarkon, she won't be turned into a symbol for radical xenophobic Galra. But she's also too dangerous to let live.” Lance says, the others at the table are silent.

“Slav,” Lance says turning to the smaller alien who nods and bounds up to the table.

“I have a small high-power concentrated device that will release a short burst of negative energy strong enough to repel the effects of quintessence manipulation that the druids use. If you can get close enough and activate it, you should render her powers obsolete for at least three doboshes.” Slav reports holding up a metallic sphere the size of a tennis ball.

“One of you must be able to fire it at exactly the right time to ensure her demise when the explosives are set off.” Slav finishes looking around the table at the gathered paladins. Shiro looks down at the table, a frown curling at his lips.

“Lance.” He says turning to the silent blue paladin.

“You’ve got the best aim out of all of us. Think you can do it?” Shiro asks carefully. Lance feels a genuine smirk creep onto his face, holding out his hand for the tennis ball that Slav delicately places in his palm.

“Who do you think you're talking to Takashi? I’m the team sharpshooter, of course I can.”

As they say-when in doubt, fake it out.

Shiro nods, an amused smile attempting to take over his face.

“Okay, let's send the signal to Lotor to get in position, I’ll go first and lure him out!” Shiro exclaims before turning to head to the Black Lion's hanger. Lance watches him go with anxiety bubbling in his chest. He's worked his tail off for this moment, put himself through so much stress and pain just to ensure they’d come out unscathed in the end. They’ll be okay. He _knows_ they’ll all be okay.

XxX

Shortly after Zarkon's fleet begins to engage the Black Lion Lotor arrives swiftly, their smaller numbers and identical ship's briefly throwing the battle into confusion.

“Only attack if someone fires at you first!” Shiro yells as all the Lions fly out to help him. Lance is keeping an eye on the general vicinity of the cloaked teleduv, they need to get Zarkon's command base into position before Thace can upload the virus. To do that they _just_ need to hold out a little longer. Lance grunts as a few shots barely miss Blue, swiftly turning around and firing at the attacking ships. Slav’s tennis ball sits heavily on his his dashboard. He still hasn't caught sight of Haggar. Not even the familiar purple lights of her magic. Lance hears the other paladins release their own grunts of frustration as they attempt to maneuver through the fast-paced space battle, trying to differentiate friend from foe.

“Lance?” Keith asks in his comms, Lance is about to answer but he’s cut off when he's forced to swerve out of the way of an explosion that blows up a line of Zarkon's battle cruisers. Damn. Who made that shot? He wants to send them a Christmas card.

Lance lets out a harsh breath and begins to maneuver Blue around the wreckage that has been blown off Zarkon's command ship.

"Lance!" Keith exclaims from his helmet.

"Yeah?" Lance grits out as he tries to lose the fighters that have spotted him, weaving through the broken parts of the ship.

"Marry me!"

Lance is so startled he almost crashes Blue into some of the floating debris, it was only his fast reflexes that prevented him from making contact. He repeats Keith's words over again in his head, making sure that he heard correctly.

"I don't think that now is the best time!" Lance exclaims as he urges Blue to move faster and away from the fleet that managed to isolate him from the rest of the team. “Keith, baby, you know I love you but you have got some _really_ shit timing!” Lance says, his voice the slightest edge of panicked as he turns Blue upside down and swerves through Zarkon’s ship.

“Is that a yes!?” Keith asks frantically. From the corner of his eye Lance can see the Red Lion ripping into enemy ships.

“Of course it's a ‘yes’ but that's besides the point! Why would you propose in the middle of _literally_ the most stressful moment we’ve had until this point.” Lance asks incredulously.

“I saw it in a really old movie once! I thought it was romantic!” Keith yells as he rams Red into a series of fighters.

Lance shakes his head and quickly moves Blue forward, urging her to fly beside Red as Lance used her tail cannon to pick off nearby fighters.

“Only you would think that proposing to someone in the middle of a high pace battle would be romantic.” Lance laughs softly despite the adrenaline racing through his veins.

“I wasn't proposing! I was literally asking you to marry me! As in right here! Right now!” Keith calls back, using Red’s fire cannon to light up a nearby cruiser. Lance has no words. He honestly doesn't know what to say. Keith will never cease to amaze him.

Keith opens their private line to the whole team.

“Shiro! Will you marry me and Lance?” Keith asks as they're both forced to split up and take on separate ships.

“No I will not!” Shiro yells frustratingly.

“Why not?!” Keith yells back, indignant.

“Because this is my one chance of living my childhood dream of being a wedding planner and goddamn it you will _not_ take this from me!” Shiro screams back as he blows up a cargo ship that was too close to the castle.

“Well fine!” Keith shrieks back in an extremely offended voice. Lance still doesn't know how to react. “I guess I’ll just ask someone _else_! Hey Pidge! You wanna ordain me and Lance's marriage?”

“Say _No_!” Shiro yells over the comms.

“Shiro _you stay out of this_! You lost your chance!”

“Oh _come on_ , I want so little!” Shiro yells.

“Paladins! As happy as I am for you Thace will be uploading the virus in less than ten tics you must be ready to enter the wormhole soon!” Allura yells. A hush falls over the comms, Keith’s grumblings are mostly muted as they all look towards the general direction of the teleduv in anticipation. Lance mentally counts down the tics, waiting for the light to leave Zarkon's ships and leave only Lotor's functioning.

Seeing the bright light of the wormhole shine from above, Lance carefully watches Zarkon's ship, no purple light. Where is she? Lance notes an Altean escape pod being launched from Zarkon's ship, likely Thace. Lance follows Zarkon's ship through the wormhole with the other paladins.

“Coran is Allura alright?” Shiro asks as they begin flying through the wormhole.

“Exhausted, but fine.” Coran responds. Shiro nods tensely.

“Take care of her. We’ve got it from here.” Shiro responds and the others fly forwards, exiting the wormhole at the same time as Zarkon's command ship. Lance is scanning the deck of the ship critically, using Blue’s mechanical eyes to lock onto any life forms present. Where is she? Where is she? Where is- _there!_

Blue zooms in on the white haired figure slowly standing up. Zarkon is looking out from the same deck as her, glaring in the direction of the Black Lion. He doesn’t have to fight them, he just has to hit Haggar. Just hit Haggar.

“Shiro I’ve got Haggar in my sights! I need you guys to distract her! We need to take her out before we form Voltron!” Lance yells, already setting Blue forward, ducking behind the frozen ships. Lotor and his fleet should be exiting the wormhole with Allura soon, he needs to hurry.

“Team start firing at the command ship with everything you’ve got! Keep all eyes off Lance!” Shiro commands. Lance slowly takes a shaky breath, keeping his eyes unblinkingly on Haggar who seems to be powering up for an attack. _‘She’s got the range advantage over me, her attacks are faster than I can dodge so a direct attack won’t work.’_ Lance thinks to himself as Blue creeps closer, stopping behind pieces of a broken ship. It doesn't seem like she or Zarkon have spotted him yet.

 _‘It needs to be a drive by shot and even then it has to make the mark.’_ Lance thinks as he picks up the tennis ball and shoves it into the chute on the dashboard of his Lion. _‘Deep breath, imagine the shot in your head.’_

Lance increases Blue’s speed and makes a sharp angle turn, in the direction of the ship. _‘You can do it, you can do it.’_ Lance repeats to himself. Haggar’s spotted him, her glowing eyes have turned in his direction. Lance clenches his jaw and urges Blue to go faster. She’s raising her hand in his direction and Lance quickly turns Blue up. Blue refocuses her camera and is locked on Haggar, Lance double checks that Slav’s device is ready to be launched. Lance is exactly 13.2 meters away. Haggar has begun to glow brighter. He has to fire it _now_! Lance grunts and shoots his cannon forward, releasing the tennis ball and immediately turns away to put distance between them. If Blue gets caught in the blast she'll be a sitting duck and they won't be able to form Voltron. Lance doesn't see if it makes contact, but he does _feel_ it. Vibrations travel through Blue and Lance can feel how uncomfortable they make her. It definitely went off, but did _Haggar_ get hit is the real question.

“Does anyone have a visual?!” Lance asks urgently, regrouping with the others.

“I do!” Hunk immediately calls out. “There's some smoke, I can't see much...but she's not moving, I think she's hurt.” Hunk reports.

“Do you see any bright lights?” Lance asks, Hunk shakes his head in the video communication they have set up.

“Shiro you're the most quintessence sensitive out of all of us, do you feel anything? Has Black said anything?” Lance interrogates. Shiro also shakes his head. Lance feels his shoulders slump slightly in relief. Good. They’ve gotten some time. Now all they need to do is-.

“Form Voltron!” Shiro yells. Lance smirks and flies in the direction of the others, fully opening his bond to the rest of them and joining in seamlessly as Blue transforms. He feels them all lock together like Lego pieces and smiles at the full feeling.

“Lotor's coming through the wormhole! He’ll offer support and attack the engines at the back of the ship! We’ll take the front!” Shiro yells and begins leading them forward, Lance easily follows. Hunk's shoulder cannon is fired at the engines in front, bright yellow explosions erupting from their contact sights. Keith's fire sword is stabbed into the hull of the ship and dragged up, destroying the area in a show of red colored fireworks. They're steadily approaching the bridge of the ship.

“Guys we need to destroy the Komar and Haggar along with it!” Lance yells as the others ready a shot to the other engines.

“What's the Komar?” Keith asks, yelling as he swings the sword and slices cleanly through several levels of Zarkon's ship.

“It's a planet destroyer.” Lance bites out, his anger and indignation felt clearly through the paladin bond. The others shiver at the cold chill that travels up their spines at the release of Lance's anger.

“It's been the cause of suffering for millions! We can't let it-!”

“Guys dodge now!” Pidge shrieks and the others respond completely on instinct, rapidly backing away from the ship's bridge.

“What. Is. _That_?” Hunk gasps out. Lance freezes and feels his hands clench around the steering staffs. Zarkon's overwhelming presence has begun to invade their bond, Lance doesn't know if the others can feel it. Looking towards the source of the feeling he immediately feels his heart speed up at the sight of Zarkon's druid made robeast.

“That's not possible…” Lance trails off quietly. “I HIT HAGGAR! HOW IS HE DOI-” Lance cuts himself off abruptly. Zarkon is flickering.

Lance can feel him flickering.

“I don’t believe it.” Lance says, his jaw dropping.

“What? What's going on?!” Keith asks frantically.

“Lance? Come on man don't do this!” Hunk exclaims.

“Zarkon's using _his own_ quintessence to power that suit...there's no way his body will handle the strain….a suit that size...there's a reason Voltron is split between five pilots.” Lance whispers in a mixture of shock and disbelief. Zarkon isn't just unhinged he's completely _lost_ it.

“Guys try to extend yourselves more towards Shiro's bond!” Lance yells and fires up his Lion forcing Hunk to do the same.

“Zarkon's going to go for Black, protect Shiro's psyche as much as you can! Don't let him sink his claws into our bond!” Lance yells desperately. Shiro yells a command and the others quickly begin firing Voltron away from Zarkon, flying in spirals and leading Zarkon on a chase.

“Paladins we’re coming to assist you!” Allura suddenly yells from the castle comms.

“No!” Shiro immediately replies. “It's too dangerous for you to take on Zarkon! Leave him to us!”

“I didn't say it was Zarkon we would be going after.” Allura replies, her smirk present in her voice. Lance bites his lip and weighs on the urge to warn her about who Haggar is.

“Allura...Haggar’s done horrible things.” Lance grunts out as he’s forced to move quickly to avoid Pidge from getting hurt.

“Don't be fooled by her appearance. She's rotten to the core.”

Allura is silent for a long moment.

“Don't worry Lance. Kolivan, Antok, and Thace will be there with me. Whatever she has in store for us, we’ll be be ready.” She assures him. Lance hesitantly nods his head.

“Be careful, I don't know how much longer she’ll be stunned.” Lance warns her before turning his attention back to Zarkon, attempting to lessen the blows that he's trying to deliver to Shiro.

“Ugh,” Pidge grunts after absorbing a harsh kick to their shield. “We need to take him down!” Pidge yells, Shiro releases a huff and backs Voltron away from the command ship which is being blasted to smithereens by Lotor's ships.

“I can _do this_ …” Lance hears Shiro murmur. Suddenly a roaring sound enters his ears and Lance closes his eyes at the rushing feeling.

“Woah! What's going on!” Hunk exclaims, an edge of panic to his voice.

“It’s alright Hunk! We're okay!” Lance insists. A joyful grin is beginning to creep onto his face. He knows this feeling. He's dreamt about feeling this again.

It's Voltron. The _real_ Voltron. The deep bond between them. He can feel it from the tips of his hair to the tips of his toes.

He had missed this.

“Let's go!” Shiro yells. The others, including Lance, offer up their own shouts of agreement and begin charging Zarkon who is mindlessly firing at them.

“Form sword!” Shiro shouts. Without even pausing Keith summons the blazing fire sword.

“Now! It's our only chance! Let's finish this!” Shiro screams. Adrenaline is coursing through Lance’s veins. His heart is beating a mile a minute. This is it. This is it. _This is it_.

Lance releases his own battle cry as Keith slashes down the sword into Zarkon's robeast. It slices like a hot knife through butter.

“Form shield!” Shiro orders. Pidge quickly complies and brings it in front of Voltron just as Zarkon's robeast begins to glow an unnervingly bright purple.

The blast pushes them back several hundred meters. Lance is panting, exhaustion taking hold of him. The sweat and heat of his body has made his suit sticky and pieces of his hair cling to his neck and forehead, he's soaked. He can't stop trembling. Maybe it's fear or relief. He doesn't know. But he knows one thing.

He's happy. _He's so happy_.

XxX

Lance stumbles out of his Lion, his legs trembling like a newborn fawn’s.

“Lance!”

Lance looks up at the call of his name and spots the other paladins exiting their Lions. Allura, Coran, Antok, Thace, and Kolivan are all in the hanger as well.

“Guys.” Lance whispers. His voice is hoarse, he needs to get a drink of water. But that doesn't matter-he needs to reach them. Needs to hold them, touch them. He _needs them_.

Lance feels tears of happiness begin to form and stumble-runs as fast as he can to the other paladins. He reaches Pidge first and swoops them up for a hug, spinning them around before cradling them tightly to his chest.

“We’re okay.” Lance breaths. He’d doubted it. Only for a single horrible second. But that doesn't matter anymore. They're okay. They're all _okay_.

Hunk comes up behind him and engulfs him and Pidge in a bear hug, laughing happily. Lance feels his own giggles join the mix. Keith wedges himself underneath one of Hunk’s arms and wraps his arms around Lance's waist and Lance cranes his head around in an attempt to kiss him. It doesn't work.

Shiro is the last to join the group, smiling at them proudly. Lance glances down to his hands and feels his eyes widen.

“The Black bayard.” Lance breaths. He hasn't seen that in a looooong time. His Shiro had never felt comfortable wielding it, preferring to leave it packed away within the Black Lion.

“Yeah.” Shiro nods lifting it up and examining it critically. “I got Zarkon's bayard.”

“You mean _your_ bayard.” Keith huffs from the crook of Hunk's arm. Shiro looks at him and smiles gently.

“Yeah. _My_ bayard….so am I going to get a hug or do I need to do it myself?” Shiro asks, smiling brightly.

“Awww c’mere you.” Hunk coos making grabby hands which Shiro happily approaches, wrapping his arms tightly around all of them. Lance releases a deep breath and smiles contently. This...this was good. He could live to enjoy this.

“...So I was thinking pastels.” Shiro says offhandedly. Lance is startled by the randomness of the statement. Pidge voices his confusion.

“For what?” They ask, their brows furrowed in confusion.

“For Keith and Lance's wedding of course.” Shiro says as if it were obvious. Lance feels his cheeks heat in embarrassment.

“Personally I’ve always loved Spring weddings and with the universe being so big I’m sure we can find a planet with a similar ecosystem as Earth’s.” Shiro says excitedly.

“We are not having a Spring wedding. You _know_ I have allergies.” Keith says seriously. Shiro looks devastated. Lance almost feels bad.

“And on that note,” Keith says turning Lance’s face to look at him. “We’re slow dancing to one song and one song only. End of the Road by Boyz II Men.”

“Oh my god.” Pidge says, an open mouthed grin taking up half their face. Lance bites his lip, amusement bubbling away in his chest. It wasn't a _bad pick_ \- but it was an incredibly old song and right up Keith's alley. It was sweet and heartfelt-in a way that only Keith could be. Lance lets a giggle bubble out and turns around in Hunk's arms to fully face Keith.

“Oh fighter pilot you always know how to make my heart _swoon_.” Lance whispers, leaning forward and pecking Keith's lips. Keith smiles and grabs one of Lance's hands, intertwining their fingers

“I’m going to be doing it for the rest of our lives so deal with it. Cargo pilot.” Keith grins. Lance smiles and leans forward, ready to plant a heavy kiss on him.

“Hello Paladins! I see that we are in celebration!” A familiar voice exclaims. Lance feels Keith tense in front of him. Lance slowly turns his head and spots Lotor bouncing into the hangar looking as flawless as ever, not even a hair out of place. Unusual, considering the fact that they had just come out of a battle and everyone, even Allura, reeked of it.

“Yeah. We were just talking about Lance and Keith's wedding.” Shiro replies, still slightly sulking from Keith's rejection. Keith immediately turns to Shiro and hisses at him.

“Shiro don't just tell _him_ these things!”

Lotor is tilting his head in confusion, turning towards Allura for an explanation.

“I believe it is the Earthling form of a Union ceremony.” She replies, shrugging.

Lotor’s eyes immediately sparkle in interest.

“A Union ceremony?” Lotor asks. A wide grin is pulling on his cheeks and he claps his hands together excitedly. “ You must be so honored to include me in the arrangement process! I will ,of course, accept your offer of invitation to the celebration.”

“Who invited _you_?!!” Keith shrieks. Hunk winces at the sound and drops his arms from around them. Lance sighs and shakes his head, watching as Lotor makes smart alec comments, making Keith's blood pressure rise with each passing second.

This is just like his first wedding.

Lance laughs softly in amusement. The others have begun pitching their own ideas. Allura looks about ready to throw down when Lotor insists they have the ceremony on his 'military base' rather than the “drab” Castle of Lions.

Shaking his head, Lance gazes out among the gathered Alteans, Galra, and Humans. His eyes linger on the healthy bodies of Thace and Antok. He casts his eyes over the Lions standing proudly above them.

This is okay.

No.

This is perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dam this took a long time to finish, i usually stick to one shots but a long fic was a pretty nice change.  
> -oh i noticed i never mentioned this in my earlier notes and it was about the date the fic started-lance's realization about it being the 11th of june- the reason i did that was because voltron season 1 premiered the 10th of june, a Friday so that was just a nod to the series as a   
> whole heh.
> 
> XxX  
> New edit-so ive been using this last chapter as kind of a probe to see whether or not people would want like a wedding chapter or someother elaboration And since a lot if the comments do state that desire im going to work and post that chapter as soon as i can since final projects are coming and i want to finish it before that! Expect it by memorial day weekend!


	16. I love you, bitch. i aint never gunna stop loving you, bitch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you hear that? those are wedding bells in air.
> 
> unless like you don't live near a church or something then that's a sign of hearing problems which you may need to talk to your doctor about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> our two favorite gays get married and lance discovers something new.

“It's good. But not _good-good_ .” Lotor says as he critically gazes down at the alien flower arrangement in front of him. Allura looks ready to rip her hair out, or maybe Lotor's hair out if Coran hadn't been signing a _‘it's not worth it’_ to her from across the room.

“Well then,” Allura says tensely, “what do _you_ propose that we do?”

Lance can practically see her patience dwindling and almost feels bad for Lotor. _Almost_ being the keyword.

“Should we do something?” Samuel asks from beside him as they watch Lotor flip his hair and begin striding around the Castle of Lion's ball room and start gesturing around in large, hand-waving motions.

“Nah.” Lance says. “Shiro will probably show up before Allura tries anything.” Lance says and turns, gesturing for Samuel to follow. The older man nods and happily waves goodbye to Coran who excitedly waves back. Lance walks with a slight skip to his step as he makes his way through the halls, passing a few Marmora members and former empire Galra soldiers, all juggling extravagant decorations likely ordered by Lotor. Shiro is going to pitch a fit when he sees it. Samuel is keeping pace beside him and smiling gently to each person as they walk past them and down to the reactor room.

“Slav!” Lance calls out as he strides into the room with Samuel by his side. Slav pops up from inside the control panel.

“Ah you have returned!” Slav exclaims, scrambling out of the control panel and dusting himself off.

“Yeah.” Lance nods and moves aside so that Samuel can move forward.

“This is Sam, Pidge's dad.” Lance says, smiling as Slav approaches and peers up at Samuel, watching him curiously. Samuel smiles the same grin that Pidge does and greets him.

“I thought you might need a hand and Sam is pretty good with tech.” Lance explains when Slav turns back to him. Slav shrugs and motions for Samuel to follow him as he dives back into the control panel.

Samuel shoots him a final look, one filled with question.

“Won't he get hurt? Pidge told me about the reactor overheating when the castle was invaded.” Samuel says worriedly. Lance shakes his head.

“Surprisingly Slav isn't afraid of electricity or getting shocked or anything like that. His species is like non-conductive, they aren't affected by various charges so he spends a lot of time in here because it makes him feel safe.” Lance explains, gesturing to the room around them. Samuel nods understandingly and turns back to the panel that Slav crawled into.

“Don't work too hard, make sure to take a break. Pidge will probably bring along some water packets when they come down to upload their ‘finale’ program.” Lance says lightly as he turns to leave. A choking sound has him freezing in his tracks and turning to face a surprised Sam watching him with wide eyes.

“You know about Pidge's program? Wait. Do you know about what Slav and me are working on???” He asks frantically. Slav pops back up at the sound of his name. Lance smirked slightly.

“You mean do I know that you guys are planning a laser light show for the wedding than yes, I do.” Lance says. Samuel groans and rubs his eyes.

“It was supposed to be a surprise.” Samuel whines. “Coran and Pidge were so excited when I suggested it. Who told?”

Lance gives him a look.

“Matt.” Samuel groans. “That boy can't keep a secret to save his life.”

Lance shrugs, it's true-poor Matthew Holt, he couldn't resist draping himself over Lance and Keith when they were cuddling in the their room and teasingly saying that he knew a “seeeeecreeeetttt”.

Matt and Lotor got along beautifully. What with their love for dramatics it was like a match made in heaven. Keith had reportedly never been so disgusted by another human in his life.

Samuel gives a final shake of his head and waves goodbye to Lance when he turn to leave. Lance gently waves back and skips out of the room. The halls are somewhat empty, the majority of people in the castle likely setting up and trying to keep up with Lotor's demands. Then promptly having to tear everything down when Shiro shows up and goes ballistic when he finds out Lotor wanted to add his own touch again.

It was like watching a bomb explode in slow motion when Shiro caught wind of something slightly off from how he planned it. It was nice to know he was putting so much effort into his and Keith's wedding but also slightly concerning watching Shiro nearly come to the point of tears when Allura suggested that maybe, just _maybe_ a life sized ice sculpture of both Lance and Keith was a bit much.

And speaking of Keith, Lance hadn't been able to see him once the entire day. Upon Shiro’s insistence the two of them would only reunite when it was time for the actual ceremony later that night- Keith had protested nearly to the point of violence, which was why he was currently being babysat by Kolivan (prompting them to begin bonding as pseudo-surrogate uncle and nephew- Lance personally found that adorable). But if Lance knew Keith like he thought he did Keith would probably lose the chaperone and come seek him out at least a few hours before the ceremony.

It was nice to know he was so loved.

“Lance!”

Lance turned his head and saw Shiro speed walking down the hall to him.

“Hey Shiro!” Lance greeted happily. Shiro’s face was creased in distress, in his arms several bouquets of flowers.

“What are you doing here? I thought I asked Matt and Hunk to keep you busy?” He asks panting slightly in exertion.

“Uh Hunk had me and Matt making sugar flowers till our arms nearly fell off so we took a break-Matt went to hang out with his new Marmora buddies.” Lance explained while examining the packages Shiro held in his other hand.

“Oh the assassin ones that don't talk? Oh Matt _cannot_ be a good influence on them.” Shiro whispers, his eyes flashing in distress.

“It's cool they’ll be fine-you might wanna check on Allura though she looks like she's going to rip Lotor a new one and we still need him alive-not _healthy_ , but alive.” Lance says lightly, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Shiro turns wide eyes to him.

“What did he do now?” Shiro asks, his shoulders tensed and face exasperated.

“Something about the flower arrangements that are gunna go on the tables.”

“My gardenias!” Shiro yelps. “I searched 14 planets to find those!” He says indignantly and turns to run but not before stopping and shoving one of the boxes he was holding in Lance's hands.

“Those are for you-they're Altean ceremonial accessories have Pidge or Hunk help you put them on when you're getting ready later. And speaking of getting ready you should probably take a bath soon, I’ve laid out your clothes for you on your bed! Make sure to wash behind your ears!” Shiro exclaims before leaning over and softly kissing Lance’s forehead like he's a child. Lance is too frozen to say anything and instead watches Shiro run down the hallway in the direction of the ballroom, nearly mowing down Pidge who was turning a corner.

Pidge glances over their shoulder as they slowly walk over to Lance.

“Lotor do something again?” Pidge asked as they stopped in front of Lance.

Lance nods affirmatively. Pidge snorts.

“Oh man, if Shiro weren't so focused on meticulously double checking everything today he would've probably ejected Lotor into space by now.” Pidge says smirking and hooking their arm with Lance’s, leading him to the communal baths that was really more of a shallow jacuzzi with sweet smelling water.

“It's his special day he's allowed to be a little stressed.” Lance points out. Pidge chokes a bit on their laughter.

“He tell you how long he's had the image of the “perfect wedding” in his mind?” Pidge asks, amused. Lance grins down at them.

“Had the image? Seven. Been planning? Apparently intermittently since he was thirteen.” Lance reveals. He knows this because Shiro had started guilt tripping Keith into giving him free reign over the ceremony and wedding ever since Keith announced his intention to marry Lance. Lance was fine with going with the flow of Shiro's construction, mainly because he'd already planned and participated in his own dream wedding-so it wasn't unreasonable to let Shiro have this.

Pidge nudges Lance through the bath doors and leads him into one of the changing rooms before ducking out and shutting the thin cloth curtain to protect his decency.

“I’m supposed to help you with prep and stuff while Matt helps out Keith.” Pidge explains as Lance begins undressing and wrapping a towel around himself.

“What's Hunk doing?” Lance asks curiously as he gently slides the curtain open and immediately heads in the direction of the jacuzzi-pool thing.

“He's working on the cake-Shiro had just finished visiting him when he told me to come find you.” Pidge says, pulling up a chair from the supplies closet on the other side of the room and plopping down, pulling out their laptop and beginning to type. Lance watches them silently for a moment before speaking again.

“Are you using those special gloves I got you so your hands won't cramp?” Lance asks. Pidge gives a long sigh.

“Yes _moooooom_.” They say before turning back to their typing. Lance huffs and sinks down in the warm water, the pulsing of the jets hitting parts of his back and gently massaging away the stress of the last few days. Lance breaths in deeply and relaxes back into the water.

“How do you think Keith's doing?” Lance asks. Pidge snorts from across the room.

“Matt’s got his work cut out for him...serves him right the blabber mouth.” Pidge says, mumbling the last part. Lance smiles and looks up at the ceiling, imagining Keith refusing to enter the bath until he could talk to Lance, Matt getting annoyed and just straight up shoving him into the probably cold water-boots, jacket, and all. Keith hated baths, preferring showers over anything else. “It's a waste of water and a waste of time Lance” he would insist whenever the discussion was brought up between them. Lance shakes his head and reaches out for the caddy of soaps Pidge laid out nearby. He picks one up that looks like a white rock and rolls it around in his hands confusedly.

“Hey Pidge?” He asks. Pidge grunts in acknowledgement.

“What's this?” Lance asks curiously. Pidge glances up at his question and squints at the soap Lance is holding, they let out a small “oh” sound.

“It's a gift from Shay and the other Balmerans-a bunch of their special made soaps it’s made from cave root or something-Hunk probably knows more.” Pidge says.

Lance looks down at the white rock shaped soap in astonishment. Balmeran cave root is like _gold_ . Well at least to Lotor and Lance it was, the things it could do to your _skin_ , it was like an actual fountain of youth. Despite being in his late seventies Lance still looked like he was in his fifties with religious application of the mashed root. It's too bad he didn't discover it until later, he could’ve looked much younger. Lance happily scraped a bit of the soap with his nail and watched flakes fall into his wet palm before setting it to the side and lathering into his hair, face, and neck. He was gunna look _so good_.

Lance was still smiling happily by the time Pidge loudly announced he should wrap up his soak before picking up their stuff and began turning in the direction of the door. Lance waited for the _‘hiss’_ of the door closing before getting up out of the water and slipping on his bathrobe, carefully lifting up the soaps like they were a delicate baby and carrying them out the door where Pidge was waiting.

“Let's go you soft skinned loser we still need to do your hair and stuff, and by that I mean you cuz the most I know is a ponytail and a half assed braid, neither of which applies to the situation.” Pidge says, standing behind Lance and pushing him quickly down the halls. Lance is still hugging his soaps to his chest when a door from down the hall opens and a furious and soaked Keith is stomping out.

 _‘Well whaddya know. I was right.’_ Lance thinks to himself as Keith turns his head in his and Pidge's direction.

“Lance!” He calls out, grinning when he sees them and apparently forgetting his anger at his soaked state. Lance waves slightly, still gripping his soaps in the other hand.

“Hello eternal light of my life!” Lance yells back, happily grinning. Matt comes out of the room that Keith just left, also soaked and grips the back of Keith's jacket.

“Okay, okay move along, Shiro said you two couldn't see each other until the ceremony and I am not about to suffer that man’s wrath. He once stole my pudding cups for a week because I told a girl that he liked that we were dating.” Matt says nudging Keith back through the doors as Pidge forces Lance to speed walk past Keith and towards his own room. Lance glances back towards Keith longingly and lets out a slight whining sound. Pidge presses his key pad and urges him through the door.

“Ugh you two are so in love with each other it's almost gross. You act like you're never going to see each other again.” Pidge complains and begins digging around Lance's cabinets for a hairbrush as Lance gets dressed under his bathrobe behind them.

“Oh yeah, did Shiro hand you those accessory things or whatever? Coran dug them up especially for you guys.” Pidge says.

“It's right on the the desk you're looking through, you set it down with your laptop, to your right.” Lance reminds them as he lifts off the robe and begins tugging on the form fitting Altean suit jacket. There's a sheer blue cape attached that begins at his shoulder blades and trails down to the floor, it's supposed to be a sort of train for the entire outfit (Shiro’s idea). Pidge grunts and begins opening the small box that Shiro had given him earlier, carefully laying out a set of earrings and a circlet with a blue gemstone in the center.

“Alright we seem to have everything going on track all we need to do is- _woah_.” Pidge stops, freezing when they turn around to face Lance. Lance looks down at himself hoping nothing is out of place or too loose, Shiro had helped him tailor the suits when he found out they were too tight in some places for Lance and too loose in some place for Keith.

“You look really...nice.” Pidge says, smiling slightly as they looked Lance up and down. Lance smiles and brushes his hands over the suit.

“Thanks I...I hope Keith like it too.” Lance says, uncharacteristically shy. He's getting married, he's allowed to be a little nervous. Pidge groans and approaches Lance, holding a hairbrush, the earrings, and circlet in their hands.

“You could probably walk up to him slathered in yogurt and he'd still say you were the most gorgeous person in the room.”

“I know, isn't he amazing?” Lance gushes as Pidge rolls their eyes in amusement and carefully begins clipping one of the earrings on his ear while Lance did the other.

“You two make goo-goo eyes at each other every waking moment I wouldn't expect you to have any other opinion of him.” Pidge sighs and hands Lance the hair brush. Lance gently cards it through his hair, loosening the tangles while Pidge fidgeted with the circlet in their hands.

“I’m making your congratulatory speech ya know.” Pidge says to cut the silence while Lance brushes his hair. Lance grins down at them.

“Really? Should I be worried?” Lance asks teasingly. Pidge smirks and waves their hand dismissively.

“Don't worry I’ll keep it PG-13, ya know. For the children.”

Lance snorts softly and sets the brush down, bending over slightly for Pidge to lay the circlet on his head and tug it down to lie over his forehead. Lance stands up straighter and poses slightly.

“How do I look?” He asks with a slight purr to his voice.

“Like you're about to slay that room full of Alteans, Galra, Humans, and whatever the hell Slav is.” Pidge says proudly, wiping at their eyes sort of like how his mom did when Hunk came to pick him up as his Prom date. Lance smiles and envelopes Pidge into a hug. Pidge tenses in his arms and Lance almost pulls back but stops when Pidge slowly wraps their arms around Lance, returning the hug.

“Come on. Let's go to the kitchen and get some snacks for my dad and Slav, we still have some time to kill before Shiro calls us into position and Hunk will want to see you.” Pidge says and tugs on Lance's arm, leading him in the direction of the kitchen. Lance smiles as he’s led through the halls by Pidge, a warm feeling bubbling in his chest. His cheeks hurt from smiling so hard. But for some reason he can't stop.

XxX

“Oh my gosh.” Hunk gasps when Pidge strides into the room with Lance on their arm. Lance is still grinning, his cheeks are beginning to ache but he doesn't care. Pidge motions to him in a grand gesture and Hunk drops his piping bag with green goo and immediately maneuvers around the counter to cup Lance’s face and tearfully examine his wedding garb.

“Oh Lance!” Hunk sobs, tears streaming down his cheeks. “You look so beautiful! I’m so-so-so proud!” Hunk wails and brings Lance close for a tight hug. Lance happily hugs him back and grins into the sobbing Hunk’s shoulder. Lance rubs circles into Hunk's back and peeks over his shoulder, being mindful of the earrings from Shay that Hunk is wearing. He’s looking around the room in amazement at the mountain of food that Hunk had managed to finish up after he and Matt left.

Trays of green colored eclairs, small plates of roasted meats, what looked like dark purple potatoes on toothpicks surrounding a white sauce were what he could see from his position. There were plenty more but Lance wasn't in position to spot them.

“You really outdid yourself Hunk.” Lance murmurs. Hunk squeezes him a final time and moves to back away. He rubs at his eyes and gives Lance a teary smile.

“My best friend is getting _married_ . And asked _me_ to be his best man, I’m allowed to celebrate.” Hunk replies. Lance grins back and intertwines his fingers with Hunk.

“You’re the best friend I’ve ever had.” Lance whispers to him, laughing when Hunk beams at him.

“What's Pidge? Your IT guy?” Pidge asks in mock offense after they've nabbed a tray and a couple of water packets. Lance turns around in Hunk’s arms and pinches Pidge's cheek. Pidge releases a slightly inhuman shriek.

“Don't be so dramatic, you and Keith share that characteristic ya know?”

“Oh I’M dramatic, this coming from the guy that cried when he was late to dinner on mac and cheese day at the Garrison and was stuck eating day old stuffing and turkey sandwiches from the commissary.” Pidge says, their gloating expression taking over their face. Lance smirks and gently nudges the back of Pidge’s knee when they turn around, the startled yelp and curse is worth the pain of when Pidge turns around to stomp on Lance's foot.

Lance waves Hunk goodbye, making sure to remind him to get ready soon before following Pidge out the door, picking up the water packets from the tray to alleviate the burden and walking down the hall with Pidge to the reactor room.

“Dad!” Pidge calls out when they walk into the room, Sam looks up from the panel and smiles at Lance and Pidge, waving him over to him

“Hello Lance, Pidge!” Sam says as Pidge sets down the tray on the panel and Lance offers him a water packet. Sam makes a sound of gratitude and immediately removes the straw from the sticky back, punching it into the pouch. Lance opens one of the other packets in his hand and punctures it similarly to Samuel.

“Where's Slav?” Lance asks.

“Over here!” A slightly muffled voice exclaims. Lance bends down and peers into the open side of the panel and watches as Slav slowly crawls out. Lance smiles and offers the opened water packet to him. Slav gingerly accepts it and looks it over carefully in his hands.

“There's a straw, you won't drown.” Lance assures him. Slav looks up at him.

“It is not that I’m worried about, in certain realities there's a 5.2139% chance that I will stab my tongue with the straw, taking away my ability to speak!” Slav exclaims, his eyes widened in worry. Lance nods and carefully taps Slav’s beak.

“Make sure the straw only touches your beak and you’ll be fine.” Lance says. Slav squints at Lance and carefully holds the straw in one of his hands as he takes a careful sip. Lance nods and reaches up for one of the small plates of eclairs that Pidge had loaded onto the tray while he and Hunk were hugging. Lance silently begins to break them up into bite sized pieces and settles them around the plate in a circle before offering them to Slav. Slav looks down at the plate, then back up at Lance before reaching forward and beginning to munch on the smaller pieces.

Lance lays the plate down beside Slav and stands up to turn to Pidge who is plugging in a drive that they had stored in their cargo shorts and Sam, who is watching him with an inquisitive gaze.

“Takashi told me that he and the others often had a hard time getting Slav to eat and drink.” Sam says. Lance nods slightly and gently pats Slav on the head.

“I guess I'm only good at getting him to eat because I'm used to picky eaters, my son was pretty selective about food when he was a baby- he'd only eat if they were cut in different shapes.” Lance says, smiling slightly at the memory and trying to ignore the tightening of his chest.

“Wait. You had a son?” Pidge asks incredulously, looking up from the panel and gaping at him in amazement. Lance slowly nods.

“Yeah, um. From one of my previous relationships...it-it didn't work out.” Lance says, reluctant to talk about his former “girlfriend”, if she could even be called that.

“Wait.” Pidge says quietly, looking at Lance with wide eyes. “So if you're marrying Keith _now_ , then that means you won't…”Pidge says softly, trailing off. Lance feels a ball of emotion form in his throat and nods sharply. His son, unlike the rest of them...is...gone. Forever.

Lance bites his lip and turns around, away from Pidge and Samuel who were watching him with concern. Lance takes a shaky breath and sniffles slightly, willing away any tears that manage to spill out. He flinches when he feels a slight pressure on his thigh and looks down at Slav who's gazing up at him in an unsure expression. Lance tilts his head at them in confusion.

“In nearly 77.531% of all realities you and the Red Paladin become lovers-that is much higher than most people.” Slav says suddenly, and Lance is startled at the sudden information.

“In nearly 83.74% of _those_ realities you are the one who passes away first.” Slav adds. Lance flinches and looks away from Slav but a slight push on his thigh urges him to look back. Slav is staring up at him earnestly.

“But in nearly 11.19% of _those_  realities...you come back.” Slav says, looking up at Lance meaningfully. Lance freezes in his tracks and looks down at Slav with furrowed brows.

“I-I don't unders-”

“People say time is fluid, like water-it can bend and move in any direction but I say that time is a gas, slow and ever changing, loose, and free. You are an anomaly Blue paladin because Time somehow took pity on you and your desire for more of it.” Slav says. Lance is looking down at Slav in astonishment and can tell that Pidge and Sam are too.

“Wait. Are-are you saying that...I died...and came back because... I wanted more time with Keith?” Lance asks softly, the disbelief in his voice permeating through the room.

“Not just the Red paladin, but everyone in general. You believed you did not have enough time so you simply...got more.” Slav says. Lance is stunned and he feels like his heart is about to beat out if his chest.

“Wait!” Pidge suddenly yells, drawing their attention. “But the Lance of _this_ time, wouldn't-”

“There can only ever be a single Blue paladin, quintessence is unique and can only exist in a single form within a universe, but as you did not travel between universes and only between time-you exist simultaneously as every “Lance” within this universe. There is no such thing as a “past self” and “future self”. The Blue paladin is the Blue paladin. That is all he has ever been.” Slav informs them, scaling Lance’s body and resting their torso on Lance's head. Lance doesn't know how to react, he feels...excited? Overwhelmed? Maybe a little giddy? He's not really sure. Because Slav had just told him...he had done this to himself? Was that what it was? And there's happiness at what he learned...but also guilt. Because he did this. He did this to himself. It's his fault. It's his _faul-_

“Hey McClain cut that out.”

Pidge suddenly appears in front of him, their brows furrowed and lips turned down in displeasure. Lance gazes down at them unsurely.

“Look...so what if you wanted more time with your husband?” They ask, standing on their tip toes and gazing into Lance’s eyes. Their hazel eyes are much easier to see with the glasses gone, Matt had claimed them for himself before Pidge and the others left Rythue.

“You shouldn't crucify yourself for wanting more time.” Pidge says fiercely. “You deserve to be happy.”

Lance looks away, unsure. “But my kid-”

“That wasn't your fault!” Pidge insists. “If you had known what would happen to them would have you have done it?”

Lance is aghast. “No!” He exclaims. “Never! I would never!” Lance yells, his eyes filling with tears at the horrendous thought. Pidge places a hand on Lance's bicep and offers a reassuring squeeze.

“Don't do this to yourself Lance. I know you love them, and I know you love Keith and it's like Slav says, this is an anomaly. So you can't take all the blame.” Pidge assures. Lance is hesitantly nodding, Slav had a firm grip on his hair and Lance winces slightly when he tugs on his hair as he’s nodding.

Pidge pats his shoulder and slowly pulls away, Sam comes up and squeezes his shoulder, giving Lance a small smile. Lance quietly thanks him and waits silently as Pidge finishes uploading their program before turning and lowering Slav back to the ground.

“Well I need to go get ready before Shiro has a heart attack so I’ll see you guys at the ceremony.” Pidge says, waving to them as they walk out of the room.

Lance sits down on the control panel and lets out a deep breath.

“You’ll see them again.” Sam says from beside him. Lance looks up at him.

“Losing a child is the worst pain a parent can experience.” Sam says quietly. Lance frowns and looks down, that's right- Sam knew what it felt like.

“But the universe...works in mysterious ways.” He says hesitantly and somewhat sheepish. Lance lets a slight snort escape him because the amount of _cheese_ in that statement.

“You’ll see them again.” Sam says confidently. Lance feels a small smile tug at his lips, Slav makes a noise as he dives back into the panel.

Maybe. Maybe he will. It's not too much to hope.

And if Lance has anything, he's got that in spades.

XxX

Lance stays in the reactor room with Slav and Sam, listening to them talk in tech lingo that he never picked up until Shiro came into the room.

“Lance!” Shiro exclaimed. Lance turns his head and lets out an appreciative whistle. Shiro's hair had been slicked back and he’s wearing a purple fitted Altean shirt and dark pants.

“Dang Shiro.” Lance says. Shiro rolls his eyes fondly and holds out an arm for Lance, Lance quickly latches on.

“Sam, Slav it's almost time so you can head to the ballroom, Kolivan says he's saving you two a seat at the table he’s sharing with Coran and Allura.” Shiro informs them. Sam and Slav nod and turn to leave the room, Shiro and Lance following them.

Lance looks at Shiro from the corner of his eye and sees him fidgeting with the collar of his shirt.

“You okay?” Lance whispers as he and Shiro turn at a different corner from Sam and Slav.

Shiro nods tensely. “Y-yeah. I’m fine.” Shiro swallows.

“You know it's okay to be nervous.” Lance soothes.

“I-I know. It's just… I just want everything to go well.”

“It will Shiro. Take a deep breath, everything will be okay.” Lance said, patting Shiro on the back.

“Why does it sound like Shiro's the one getting married instead of you?”

Lance freezes at the voice, whipping around and spotting Keith leaving his room, his own cape flowing behind him. He's wearing a similar suit and an red opaque cape, but rather than the straight design that Lance has his is a jacket that crosses over his body.  A heavy Red medallion rather than earrings hangs on his neck and a similar circlet to Lance’s has been placed on his forehead. Lance feels the air from his lungs vanish as Keith steadily approaches and watches as Keith smiles smugly.

“Oh be quiet you!” Shiro says from his side.

“I'm on cloud nine right now. Nothing you say will ruin that.” Shiro huffs. Lance notices Hunk racing down the hall to them in similar attire and unlatches his arm from Shiro's, grinning when Hunk skids to a stop in front of him.

“Hubba hubba hubba hubba.” Lance says as he circles Hunk. Hunk is grinning widely and shivers in excitement as Lance stops in front of him. Hunk is wearing an outfit similar to Shiro's except for the yellow which matches his Lion.

“I have never seen something more beautiful in my entire life.” Lance says, grinning widely up at Hunk.

“Ahem.” Keith coughs and raises an eyebrow at him. Lance softly laughs and rolls his eyes, leaning over to peck Keith's cheek.

“Except for you of course.” Lance whispers. Keith grins proudly and turns back to Shiro. Shiro smiles and offers his hand to Keith who accepts.

“Alright so Hunk, you and I will bring Lance and Keith to the hall, together,  at the same time. I asked Matt to film it from a 42 degree angle so when we rewatch it we’ll look so cool.” Shiro says, his eyes glittering in excitement. Lance smiles and hooks his arm with Hunk. Lance and Keith walk side by side, down the hall with Hunk and Shiro on the outside. As they approach the door Lance feels a nudge on his free hands and glances towards Keith who’s smiling brightly at him. Without saying anything Lance laces their fingers together and tightens his grip as the door slides open in front of him.

Immediately the first thing Lance spots are silver cloth covered tables littering the ballroom. Several uniformed Marmora and Empire soldiers are seated, watching the door with appraisal. Lance spots the table closer to the altar seating Kolivan, Allura, Coran, and Sam. From the corner of his eye he can see Matt miming crying and holding a hand held recorder pointed at them from exactly 42 degrees of their position. Lance muffles the snort he felt rising.

The path in front of them is littered with a rainbow of flower petals and leads up to the altar. And the person standing there, in a form fitting white bodysuit is-

“ _Lotor_?” Keith hisses and from the slight grunt of pain Shiro releases Lance can tell he's dug his sharp nails into the meat of Shiro's arm.

“Watch it! That's my only human arm!” Shiro whispers back. Shiro and Hunk lead them to stop in front of Lotor who’s been standing, waiting underneath a flowered arch. Man, Shiro must have not let go of that Spring wedding idea.

“What are _you_ doing here?” Keith hissed at him, shoulders tensing like an angry ally cat.

“Uh, I happen to be the only one of us who's licensed.” Lotor says, grinning down at Keith, who's nearly foaming at the mouth.

“We really had no choice.” Shiro whispers to them from the side where he and Hunk have moved to after releasing Lance and Keith's arms.

“And also I’m the Emperor of most of the known universe? So...you're welcome.” Lotor whispers, grinning happily when he sees Keith grit his teeth.

“You mess this up and I end your life. Got it?” Keith spits out. Lotor continues to smile as if he hadn't even heard him and Lance knows that's only to agitate Keith further.

“Family!” Lotor begins, speaking loud enough for his voice to echo around the room.

“Friends! Allies! We are gathered today to witness the Union between the paladin of Red and the paladin of Blue. Today they make a vow of eternal love and loyalty. A vow that shall remain honored and unbroken for as long as these two shall live! Should there be any party here that believes the union should not occur let them speak or forever hold their peace.” Lotor grins widely and stands silently for a moment. Keith grips his hand tighter and Lance glances towards him, a kind smiles on his face, Keith mirrors his look. They both patiently wait for ten tics to pass before Lotor begins again.

“By my authority as Emperor Lotor of the Galra I therefore and henceforth legitimize the union between Keith, son of Kogane and Lance, son of McClain as one single entity!” Lotor announces. The room erupts into cheers and Lance spots Shiro clapping more rapidly than anyone else in the room. Keith grunts in front of him and Lance turns his attention fully to the bright red paladin.

“Aren't we supposed to like...kiss?” Keith whispers the last word and Lance almost laughs at how shy he appears.

“It's not in the protocol, no.” Lance replies, grinning broadly. Keith's face falls and he looks down.

“Oh.” He says quietly, looking disappointed. Lance fondly rolls his eyes and grabs Keith by the lapels, pulling him forward and straight onto Lance’s lips. Lance wraps his arms around Keith's back and slowly moves his lips against Keith's, who’s quick to respond. Keith's nose is digging slightly into his cheek and Lance smiles against his lips, lightly nipping him as he pulls away. Keith’s eyes have lit up in glee and Lance wraps an arm around his neck, bringing him into a hug.

“Let's go sit down fighter pilot.” Lance whispers hoarsely into his ear. Keith shivers and the two immediately step away from the altar, clapping following them as Shiro leads them to a table with five chairs and a grinning Pidge seated in one of them.

The elaborate red and blue chairs are obviously for the two of them and Lance grins as Keith pulls out his chair for him. Lance sits delicately and smiles when Keith pushes him in before seating himself in his own chair.

“What a gentleman.” Lance purrs and Keith smirks at him.

“One of my foster parents made me go to an etiquette school, I’m not entirely uncultured.” Keith smiles and rests his hand on top of Lance's, softly stroking his thumb against the back of Lance’s hand. Lance feels his smile soften and turns relaxed eyes to face Keith who's also staring at him with a soft look.

“That was so gay.” Pidge says from the side as both Shiro and Hunk sit down in their own seats.

“I’M so gay.” Keith shoots back. Pidge cackles and moves to stand as the altar which had been near the center is quickly cleared away and laid in one of the far sides of the room. Pidge reaches underneath the table and whips out a footstool, making their way to the center of the room.

“What's Pidge doing?” Keith asked hesitantly.

“Pidge demanded the right to the congratulatory speech since Hunk and I got to walk you two down the aisle.” Shiro replies, watching Pidge with careful and worried eyes. “T-they wouldn't do anything too bad would they? I-I mean not with their father and brother here right?” Shiro asks quickly, nervous sweat beginning to form on his forehead.

Pidge loudly clears their throat, standing up on the short stool at the center of the room. They’re wearing a green undershirt of an Altean suit and are staring out at the guests, a slight smile on their face.

“Lance and Keith are….losers.” They begin.

Shiro gives a slight cough from beside Keith.

“But more than that they are some of my best friends. I remember the first time I met Lance I was like _‘who is this Apollo looking child and why is he asking me about my brand of conditioner?’_.”

Lance feels a grin creep on his face. Pidge's hair had looked so fluffy the first time he saw them, Lance had been _curious_.

“-And then I met Keith, my first impression was _‘holy shit this lawbreaker who beats up doctors for fun is going to murder me in his creepy desert cabin.’_ ”

Shiro had begun to cough louder. Lance can’t blame him...this congratulatory speech is so very _Pidge_ and has their hallmark snark and honesty.

“-But these two are here to tie the knot and finally become like official or whatever.” Pidge says, waving offhandedly in their general direction, Lance shakes his head in amusement, Keith is watching with a slight confused tilt of his head.

“-but there's something else that needs to be celebrated here today!” Pidge says loudly, a mischievous grin claiming their face.

“Oh no.” Shiro groans.

“For not only are Lance McClain and Keith Kogane becoming Mr. And Mr. McKogane,-”

“ _No_ _no no no no no no_.” Shiro repeats, burying his face in his hands, a flush curling up on his cheeks.

“-but today is the day that Keith Kogane _loses his virginity and I think that's beautiful!_ ” Pidge yells, raising their arms and garnering several cheers from the gathered Marmora and Galra soldiers. Lotor and Matt are especially loud, drowning out Hunk’s squeak and Shiro's scandalized  shriek of “ _PIDGE_!”

Lance buries his face in his hands in an attempt to hide his grin. Because of course. _Of course_ Pidge would. Keith is tensed beside him and Lance glances up at him. His jaw is locked and his eyes are narrowed on Pidge's back, who is sweeping their way through the room, grinning like the Cheshire cat and high-fiving everyone within reach.

“I’m going to murder that little gremlin.” He grits out, a flush of embarrassment painting his cheeks.

“Please don't. They're our friend and I’m pretty sure Shiro's about to have an aneurysm.” Lance points out and motions toward Shiro who is shaking and gaping at Pidge making their rounds. Lance reaches across Keith and pats Shiro soothingly on the back.

“At least they didn't draw pictures and present it as a slideshow.” Lance soothes. And Lance _knows_ that Pidge would've done that because they did. (Or at least the first time they did).

Just as Pidge finishes high fiving a grinning Matt, Coran starts playing the opera music from his teenage days through the speakers. The voice singing in Altean is projected through the room as trays of food begin to float freely through the room. Low conversations fill the silence as Pidge heads back to the table and plops down on their seat by Hunk.

“I hope you're proud of yourself.” Shiro grumbles from the other end. Pidge shrugs and winks at Keith when he narrows his eyes at them.

“You’re lucky that Lotor's wedding present is a week long stay on the Vaka planets or else I’d make sure we slept right next to _your_ room.” Keith says. Pidge grins and leans slightly in his direction.

“Awwww is a week all your body can handle?”

Lance chokes on the nunville he was drinking and Keith sputtered in indignation.

“ _You little shit_ , how did I not know what you truly were underneath that shitty haircut.”

“This coming from the guy with a mullet.” Pidge sassed.

“It's _not_ a mullet, that's just how my hair grows!” Keith grits out. Lance pats his head and lightly scratches at Keith's scalp, drawing his attention.

“Pidge is just hazing you because we're married now and this is their way of giving you the shovel talk.” Lance whispers softly, smiling and running his fingers through Keith's hair.

Keith turns their gaze to them and then back to Pidge, their eyes still narrowed.

“You lucked out this time Gundersen.” Keith vows.

“Still not my name.” Pidge announces and spins slightly in the floating chair.

A tray of seared meats floats by Lance’s cheek and Lance carefully stops it, lifting off a plate of rare dressed meat and placing it down in front of Keith.

“Eat something. Hunk worked hard to make these.” Lance whispers. Keith softens and turns to him with a grateful smile, lifting the fork and stabbing at the delicately sliced meats. The tray floats down the table and they each pick something up, the music and food are flowing freely and Lance watches as Lotor awkwardly attempts to dance with Allura (she's leading and grinning savagely each time she spins Lotor and dips him.)

Keith clears his throat from beside him and Lance turns his head. Keith's face is red and unsure and he keeps looking between Lance and the dance floor. He opens his mouth to speak but is cut off by another voice.

“Would you like to dance Blue paladin?” Lotor asks, popping up in front of the table. Lance turns to Lotor and sees his eyes glimmering in excitement, his hair has been let down from it's usual braid and is curling slightly over his shoulders. Lance gingerly stands and return the soft smile.

“I wa-”

“-Was just going to dance with me!” Keith exclaims standing up and knocking into the table. His face creases in slight pain and he subtly begins to rub at his injured thigh.

“We were just going to go out together,” Keith repeats and stands straight up to face Lotor. “So why don't you run along _Lotor_.” Keith says, smirking at him victoriously.

Lotor huffs and fluffs his hair with one of his hands.

“Such rudeness. To deny someone a dance. After all the effort they put forth for your Union ceremony. I always knew you were a savage.” Lotor replies, grinning at Keith. Keith narrows his eyes.

“Ohhhhh you listen up you mother-”

“KEITH!” Shiro exclaims looking distressed. “Not in the reception hall! If you're going to fight do it outside! I won't let you ruin my setup!” Shiro says fiercely, gesturing to the table they're sitting at with two vases of beautifully arranged flowers. Keith turns back to the smug Lotor.

“We’ll finish this another day, it is after all, a special day for Shiro” Keith grits out, it's obvious to Lance that backing away from the brimming fight was difficult for him to do.

Lance shakes his head and turns to him, lifting Keith's hand and planting a soft kiss. Keith is momentarily distracted and looks away from Lotor, turning to Lance. Lance grins and holds out his hand for Keith to follow. Keith instantly latches onto his wrist and Lance leads them away from the table, waving to the others over his shoulder. As they began to approach the floor Keith grabbed hold of Lance’s wrist and pulled him into the center of the dancing bodies.

Lance felt slightly surprised, Keith had always been embarrassed about his lack of dancing abilities- so with a slight confused tilt to his head Lance rested his hands on Keith's hips as Keith looped his arms around Lance's neck.

Despite Keith's lack of skill he had always wanted to lead in their dances, Lance supposed it was his attempt to prove that he wasn't _completely_ incompetent. But still, it was nice to take the lead and begin to slowly sway and step gently along to the rhythm of the song. Lance and Keith slowly and carefully worked their way in a circle around the ballroom, passing various other couples dancing steadily to the music. Lance even managed to catch sight of  Hunk and Pidge leading Shiro through a slow dance, their leader smiling indulgently with a content expression. Keith suddenly shifted Lance quickly to go in a circle and Lance was brought back to attention, forcing him to gaze into Keith’s face. Keith shifted the hands on the back of Lance's neck and they began to sway in place, Keith smiling smugly in front of him like he- _wait a second._

“Are you flipping Lotor off behind my back?” Lance asked suspiciously. Keith's face immediately fell.

“...No?”

Lance sighed. Incredible. The level of his petty. But despite his resignation a fond smile still crept onto his face and he planted a soft kiss on Keith's mouth.

“Honestly Kogane I’m beginning to think you like his attention better than mine.” Lance whispered teasingly. Keith's face creased slightly in disgust.

“Ugh gross who’d want that trash bag?” Keith asks gesturing to Lotor, who was apparently behind him. Lance turns his head slightly and manages to catch a glimpse of Lotor joyfully spinning Shiro in a circle and stepping completely out of rhythm with the music. Shiro, to his credit, seemed to be enjoying himself even if he appeared confused. Allura was on the very edge of the dance floor and was being soothed by Coran as she angrily bit into the soft “cheese” breads that Hunk had laid out and was glaring daggers at the oblivious Lotor’s back. Lance let out a snort of laughter and turned back to Keith.

“I don’t know he _is_ pretty cute.” Lance mused teasingly. Keith pulled harshly on Lance’s neck and bumped their heads together. Lance winced in pain.

“ _Fuck_.” Keith hissed and rubbed his forehead before rubbing Lance’s forehead like it would erase the pain and forming bruise. “That was….that was supposed to go smoother.” Keith mumbles.

Lance smiles brightly and wraps his arms around Keith’s neck in a hug. Keith is smiling into his neck and the two of them are beginning to toddle out of sync with the music.

“You don't need to seduce me anymore Kogane. I’m already yours.” Lance whispers into Keith’s ear. Keith is grinning against his neck and running his hands down Lance’s sides.

“I know. But I just- I like being near you...touching you...talking to you...I feel-I feel good when I’m with you. I like you” Keith murmurs and tightly wraps his arms around Lance's waist. Lance feels a grin plaster itself on his face and nuzzles Keith gleefully.

“Like ‘like’ or _‘like-like’_?” Lance asks lowly and in a faux serious voice. Keith snorts against his shoulder and slowly lifts his head to gaze into his eyes. His purple eyes are brimming with happiness as he gazes into Lance’s, which are shining in love.

It's perfect. It's all so _perfect_.

“ _Like-like_ .” Keith assures him. “Definitely _like-like_.”


End file.
